Aim Evaluate the relative contributions of palaeotemperature, palaeogeographic reconfiguration, and habitat heterogeneity to the diversification and biogeographic history of turtles (Order Testudines) from the Triassic to the present. Location and Time Period Global; Triassic–Recent. Taxa Extant Testudines (time‐calibrated phylogeny sampling ~286 species). Methods We combined a near‐complete, time‐calibrated phylogeny with com...

Aim To determine the geographical boundaries among cryptic lineages and examine the evolutionary drivers of cladogenesis within the Cape legless skink, Acontias meleagris species complex. Location Coastal plains and adjacent interior of the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. Methods A total of 231 specimens from 55 localities were collected from the entire known distribution range of the A. meleagris...

Variable morphological characters have obscured genealogical relationships in the Cape fossorial skink Acontias meleagris meleagris species complex. Currently the species complex contains four dubious operational taxonomic units ( A. meleagris meleagris , A. m. orientalis , A. percivali tasmani and the morph lineicauda) with poorly defined species boundaries. In the present study we examine the evolutionary relationships withi...

Despite recent molecular systematic studies on the fossorial southern African skink subfamily Acontinae, evolutionary relationships among the three genera remain unresolved and disputed. Among these, the most recent study suggests that both Typhlosaurus and Acontias are paraphyletic, contrasting earlier results that suggest the presence of two divergent clades within Acontias . Here we further investigate the evolutionary rela...