Habitat preference modulates trans-oceanic dispersal in a terrestrial vertebrate.

The importance of long-distance dispersal (LDD) in shaping geographical distributions has been debated since the nineteenth century. In terrestrial vertebrates, LDD events across large water bodies are considered highly improbable, but organismal traits affecting dispersal capacity are generally not taken into account. Here, we focus on a recent lizard radiation and combine a summary-coalescent species tree based on 1225 exons with a probabilistic model that links dispersal capacity to an evolving trait, to investigate whether ecological specialization has influenced the probability of trans-oceanic dispersal.

Lizards of the lost arcs: mid-Cenozoic diversification, persistence and ecological marginalization in the West Pacific.

Regions with complex geological histories often have diverse and highly endemic biotas, yet inferring the ecological and historical processes shaping this relationship remains challenging. Here, in the context of the taxon cycle model of insular community assembly, we investigate patterns of lineage diversity and habitat usage in a newly characterized vertebrate radiation centred upon the world's most geologically complex insular region: island arcs spanning from the Philippines to Fiji. On island arcs taxa are ecologically widespread, and provide evidence to support one key prediction of the taxon cycle, specifically that interior habitats (lowland rainforests, montane habitats) are home to a greater number of older or relictual lineages than are peripheral habitats (coastal and open forests).

Two new species of Crocodile Skinks (Squamata: Scincidae: Tribolonotus) from the Solomon Archipelago.

We describe two new species of the scincid lizard genus Tribolonotus from the islands of Buka and Choiseul in the Solomon Archipelago, closely related to, and previously included within, T. pseudoponceleti. One species, T.

Quantifying the spatiotemporal dynamics in a chorus frog (Pseudacris) hybrid zone over 30 years.

Although theory suggests that hybrid zones can move or change structure over time, studies supported by direct empirical evidence for these changes are relatively limited. We present a spatiotemporal genetic study of a hybrid zone between Pseudacris nigrita and P. fouquettei across the Pearl River between Louisiana and Mississippi.

Phylogeny and phylogeography of Mantophryne (Anura: Microhylidae) reveals cryptic diversity in New Guinea.

New Guinea is one of five high biodiversity wilderness areas, and frog diversity is exceptionally large, with more than 400 species described to date. The microhylid frog genus Mantophryne is endemic to New Guinea and consists of four species, three of which have narrow geographic distributions and a fourth, M. lateralis, with a broad range that spans the eastern half of the island.

The effects of sampling on delimiting species from multi-locus sequence data.

As a fundamental unit in biology, species are used in a wide variety of studies, and their delimitation impacts every subfield of the life sciences. Thus, it is of utmost importance that species are delimited in an accurate and biologically meaningful way. However, due to morphologically similar, cryptic species, and processes such as incomplete lineage sorting, this is far from a trivial task.

Ecological guild evolution and the discovery of the world's smallest vertebrate.

Living vertebrates vary drastically in body size, yet few taxa reach the extremely minute size of some frogs and teleost fish. Here we describe two new species of diminutive terrestrial frogs from the megadiverse hotspot island of New Guinea, one of which represents the smallest known vertebrate species, attaining an average body size of only 7.7 mm.

Phylogeny, historical biogeography and body size evolution in Pacific Island Crocodile skinks Tribolonotus (Squamata; Scincidae).

Competition heavily influences the structure of island communities, particularly in species-rich areas. If ecologically similar lineages come into contact following dispersal, selection may favor rapid evolutionary change; if constraints prevent such change, lineage extinction may result. One mechanism for relieving competition among newly sympatric species is the evolution of body size differences, such as through character displacement or size assortment.

A dual role for IQGAP1 in regulating exocytosis.

Polarized secretion is a tightly regulated event generated by conserved, asymmetrically localized multiprotein complexes, and the mechanism(s) underlying its temporal and spatial regulation are only beginning to emerge. Although yeast Iqg1p has been identified as a positional marker linking polarity and exocytosis cues, studies on its mammalian counterpart, IQGAP1, have focused on its role in organizing cytoskeletal architecture, for which the underlying mechanism is unclear. Here, we report that IQGAP1 associates and co-localizes with the exocyst-septin complex, and influences the localization of the exocyst and the organization of septin.