Aim Viviparity has evolved more times in squamates than in any other vertebrate group; therefore, squamates offer an excellent model system in which to study the patterns, drivers and implications of reproductive mode evolution. Based on current species distributions, we examined three selective forces hypothesized to drive the evolution of squamate viviparity (cold climate, variable climate and hypoxic conditions) and tested...

Aim We investigate the spatiotemporal context of the diversification of Allobates , a widespread genus of Amazonian frogs with high species diversity particularly in western Amazonia. We tested if that diversity originated in situ or through repeated dispersals from other Amazonian areas and if this diversification took place during or after the Pebas system, a vast lacustrine system occupying most western Amazonia between 23...

In a recent contribution to this journal, Wilmé et al . (2016) proposed that the giant tortoises of the islands of the Western Indian Ocean ( WIO : Aldabra, the Mascarenes, and the Granitic Seychelles) might have originated from translocation by early Austronesian sailors. Prompted by this paper we review recent literature and show that natural overseas dispersal was remarkably widespread in the colonization history of terrest...

Aim We studied the gecko genus Ebenavia to reconstruct its colonization history, test for anthropogenic versus natural dispersal out of Madagascar, and correlate divergence date estimates of our phylogeny with geological age estimates of islands in the region. Location Madagascar and surrounding islands of the Western Indian Ocean (Comoros, Mayotte, Mauritius, Pemba). Methods We reconstructed the phylogeny of Ebenavia covering...

We performed a phylogenetic analysis using nuclear ( RAG ‐1, RAG ‐2) and mitochondrial (16S) markers, a statistical Bayesian reconstruction of ancestral distribution areas and a karyological analysis on most Malagasy species of the gekkonid genus Lygodactylus . The phylogenetic analysis largely confirms major basal branching pattern of previous molecular studies, but highlights significant differences concerning both the relat...

In this study, we provide an extended multilocus phylogenetic analysis combining mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of a group of fossorial and miniaturized legless lizards (genus Paracontias ) from Madagascar , including the description of two species new to science, P. ampijoroensis sp. nov. and P. mahamavo sp. nov. Our analyses revealed the existence of two distinct, parapatric and diagnosable clades within the genus: (i) the ‘k...

Hawlitschek, O. & Glaw, F. (2012). The complex colonization history of nocturnal geckos ( Paroedura ) in the Comoros Archipelago. — Zoologica Scripta , 00 , 000–000. Oceanic islands have attracted special attention from evolutionary biologists because their mostly species‐poor, but highly endemic biota are exposed to selection regimes different to those of their mainland relatives. While many groups of oceanic islands worldwid...

The pseudoxyrhophiine snake genus Liopholidophis Mocquard, 1904 is endemic to Madagascar and consists of two distinct species groups. We performed molecular phylogenetic analyses using nucleotide sequences of c . 2200 bp from two mitochondrial genes (16S rRNA, cyt b ) and one nuclear gene (c‐mos) to test the monophyly of the genus Liopholidophis and to investigate the relationships of the known species and an unidentified Liop...

Aim Cryptoblepharus is a genus of small arboreal or rock‐dwelling scincid lizards, widespread through the Indo‐Pacific and Australian regions, with a disjunct outlier in the Malagasy region. The taxonomy within this genus is controversial, with different authors ranking the different forms (now some 36) at various levels, from different species to subspecies of a single species, Cryptoblepharus boutonii . We investigated the b...

We assessed the extinction risks of Malagasy amphibians by evaluating their distribution, occurrence in protected areas, population trends, habitat quality, and prevalence in commercial trade. We estimated and mapped the distribution of each of the 220 described Malagasy species and applied, for the first time, the IUCN Red List categories and criteria to all species described at the time of the assessment. Nine species were c...

Aim The Mascarene ridged frog, Ptychadena mascareniensis , is the only African amphibian species thought to occur on Madagascar and on the Seychelles and also Mascarene islands. We explored its phylogenetic relationships and intraspecific genetic differentiation to contribute to the understanding of transoceanic dispersal in amphibians. Methods Fragments of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene were sequenced from specimens collecte...