Elyse Freitas – Research Statement: With more than 1600 species, the lizard Family Scincidae is the most biodiverse group of lizards. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution and is found on every continent except Antarctica and on numerous oceanic islands. Consequently, Scincidae is ecologically and morphologically diverse and is a good system for studying the evolution and distribution of body form in...

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We redescribe the exceedingly rare, tetradactyl Philippine scincid lizards of the genus Brachymeles. Before the recent discovery of a second museum specimen of Brachymeles wrighti, and the rediscovery of B. elerae in the wild, these two species were known from a combined three museum specimens, all collected in the early 1900s. Since that time, biotic surveys in the region, including recent efforts...

Evolutionary simplification, or loss of complex characters, is a major theme in studies of body-form evolution. The apparently infrequent evolutionary reacquisition of complex characters has led to the assertion (Dollo’s Law) that once lost, complex characters may be impossible to re-evolve, at least via the exact same evolutionary process. Here, we provide one of the most comprehensive, fine-scale analyses of squamate body-form...

A new limbless species of scincid lizard of the genus Brachymeles is described from Mt. Labo, Bicol Peninsula, Luzon Island, Philippines. The species was encountered only on this isolated volcanic peak and is conspicuously absent from surrounding, well-surveyed regions of the Bicol Peninsula. The new species is the fourth known limbless species of Brachymeles and the third to be discovered in the...