Siler Lab members (Jessa Watters, Nick Huron and Rachel Flanagan) were joined in the field in April 2015 by local  journalist Dan Bewley, creator of the blog Science is OK, through which he shares insights into scientific research occurring around Oklahoma.  While it was a little odd to be doing field work with a microphone stuck down the front of our waders...

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The Siler Lab has completed two trips to Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in SE Oklahoma in March, 2015; one with only 4 members of the Siler Lab and the second with members of Dr. Siler’s OU Herpetology course.  Check out the summary statistics below (Table 1) and the amazing compilation video created by a student in the Herpetology course.  The Siler Lab continues...

The final curator in our series, Dr. Charles C. Carpenter, Professor and Curator Emeritus Dr. Charles C. Carpenter, “Chuck” to his friends and “Doc” to his 50 graduate students, fell in love with biology and herpetology at an early age. Chuck began his formal education at Northern Michigan University in 1939, graduated in 1943, and immediately joined the Army Medical Corps, but...

This past weekend, several members from the Herpetology Department went to SE Oklahoma. This was the first time a few of us had ever gone “herping.” On our first night out, we heard many Spring Peepers, Leopard frogs (Lithobates sphenocephalus), and Crawfish Frogs (Lithobates areolatus). Throughout the weekend, we caught numerous Bullfrog tadpoles (Lithobates catesbeianus), a Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer), a Brown Snake...

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...

Lasting thoughts Overall, my summer expedition to the eastern Philippines reinforced my strong believe that it is imperative for the research and conservation communities to emphasize the importance of the Philippine rainforest to such an amazing diversity of life. As reported by Conservation International, “this country is one of the few nations that is, in its entirety, both a biodiversity hotspot and...