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This week, we hear from George Lynn Cross Research Professor and Curator Emeritus, Dr. Laurie J. Vitt: I was Curator of Reptiles at the Sam Noble Museum and Professor in the OU Biology Department for 21 years, following eight years as Professor of Biology at UCLA. I am currently Curator and Professor Emeritus after retiring in 2011. Much of my more recent research has focused...

Gecko lizards in the Philippines are quite diverse covering multiple genera, body types, and sizes, yet much of that diversity has gone undocumented.  Pseudogekko is an example of a little known Philippine endemic genus, with only four representative species.  Recent field surveys by Dr. Siler and colleagues have resulted in new  data indicating that these four species should be split into multiple others, based...

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) With the generous support of the Office of the Vice President of Research, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program offers financial assistance for scholarly and creative projects under the mentorship of a faculty member.  Dozens of research projects are funded each year so that undergraduates may undertake ambitious and exciting research endeavors. This competitive program is open to...

The Philippines is home to a remarkable number of species of amphibians and reptiles. This amazing diversity is often due to the complex geological history of this archipelago with islands cyclically being isolated and then reconnected, as sea levels would fluctuate. One group of reptiles with a remarkable amount of morphological and genetic diversity is the Philippine Slender Skinks of the genus...

Recent phylogenetic analysis of false geckos, genus Pseudogekko, revealed unrecognized diversity within these exceedingly rare and enigmatic Philippine forest geckos. Newly available genetic datasets revealed that two of the four currently recognized species are complexes of multiple, deeply divergent evolutionary lineages. In this paper we evaluate species diversity in the Pseudogekko compresicorpus Complex and describe three new species in this unique clade of endemic Philippine...

This is one of the eastern Philippine island populations of crested lizards in the genus Gonocephalus.  Members of the genus in the Philippines are forest obligate species, with three, relatively widespread species currently recognized in the archipelago.  Males develop quite beautiful crests on their heads and backs, and you can’t beat the eye color....

A beautiful new species of Pseudogekko (sp. nov.) from the Philippines.  Look for the species description later this year in Herpetological Monographs!...

We describe two new species of morphologically cryptic monitor lizards (genus Varanus) from the Philippine Archipelago: Varanus dalubhasa sp. nov. and V. bangonorum sp. nov. These two distinct evolutionary lineages are members of the V. salvator species complex, and historically have been considered conspecific with the widespread, northern Philippine V. marmoratus. However, the new species each share closer phylogenetic affinities with V....

This is one of my favorite photographs of Gekko gigantes, a species of Philippine gecko known only from the tiny islands of North and South Gigantes.  I must have spent nearly an hour trying to catch this fellow licking his eye for a photo....

Some of Southeast Asia’s most enigmatic reptile species include the arboreal (tree-dwelling), frugivorous (fruit-eating) monitor lizards of the central and northern Philippines. Comprised of just three known species, this distinct group has even been assigned to its own subgenus, Philippinosaurus on the basis on cranial features and dentition (characteristics of the teeth). Knowledge on the biology of Philippine frugivorous monitor lizards has...