We utilize robust geographical genetic sampling, and phylogenetic analysis of a new multilocus dataset to provide the first inference of relationships among Philippine Gonocephalus, combined with estimates of putative species diversity, in this almost unknown island radiation. Our results reveal startling levels of undocumented diversity, genetically partitioned at a number of geographical levels across the archipelago. We present the first survey of...

Graduate student Elyse Freitas continues doing well during her Fulbright in Thailand, based at the Kasetsart University, working alongside Dr. Anchalee Aowphol and her students.  She has been working in the genetics research lab, giving guest lectures and going in the field 1-2 times per month, as well as exploring Bangkok and taking language lessons. Follow Elyse online at her Thailand blog....

Cameron Siler, Katrina Menard, and the OU field crew (Austin Carriere, Elyse Ellsworth, Sierra Smith & Sam Eliades) arrived safely in Manilla on May 22 and had a day or so to explore the city while waiting for collaborators Dr. Duncan Irschick (UMass-Amherst) and Dr. Phillip Bergman (Clark University). They have now wrapped up collecting at their first site in Cayagan Province on Luzon Island and are now traveling...

Our graduate student Kai Wang recently received two NSF Fellowships, including the East Asian and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) and the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)! EAPSI supports summer research activities conducted with foreign collaborators in East Asian and Pacific countries, and GRFP supports STEM graduate students who are pursuing research-based advance degrees in the US. The GRFP includes a 3-year living...

After training with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in San Diego for the next month, I will depart on a six-month research expedition in Fiji that will focus on the ecology and conservation of the critically endangered Fijian crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis). Working on a large collaborative project supported by San Diego Zoo Global, USGS, International Iguana Foundation, and the National...

Until recently, the agamid species, Japalura flaviceps, was recognized to have the widest geographic distribution among members of the genus occurring in China, from eastern Tibet to Shaanxi Province. However, recent studies restricted the distribution of J. flaviceps to the Dadu River valley only in northwestern Sichuan Province, suggesting that records of J. flaviceps outside the Dadu River valley likely represent undescribed...

We describe a new species of lizard in the genus Pseudogekko from Sibuyan and Tablas islands in the Romblon Island Group of the central Philippines. The new species is diagnosed from other Philippine Pseudogekko by body size and shape, color pattern, and multiple differences in scale characteristics. Pseudogekko isapa sp. nov. has been collected only twice from leaves of shrubs in forested...

We summarize all available amphibian and reptile species distribution data from the northeast Mindanao faunal region, including small islands associated with this subcenter of endemic vertebrate biodiversity. Together with all publicly available historical information from biodiversity repositories, we present new data from several major herpetological surveys, including recently conducted inventories on four major mountains of northeast Mindanao, and adjacent islands of Camiguin...

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The Palawan Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex, a western Philippines island group, possesses a complex geologic history and numerous endemic vertebrates. On the basis of multiple unique morphological features, bolstered by genetic data supporting divergent lineages, we describe the first Philippine endemic species of Lygosoma from Palawan and Cuyo islands. This new semifossorial species is phenotypically similar to Lygosoma quadrupes, a widespread Southeast...

Twenty-six gekkonid lizards from the Philippines consisting of Cyrtodactylus philippinicus (n 5 12) and Gekko mindorensis (n 5 14) were examined for helminths. One species of Cestoda as cycticercoids and 6 species of Nematoda: Bakeria schadi, Meteterakis longispiculata, Parapharyngodon maplestoni, Physalopteroides sp., Pharyngodonidae gen. sp., and Physalopteridae larva, were found. Both gekkonid species harbored Parapharyngodon maplestoni and Physalopteroides sp. Parapharyngodon maplestoni had...