Evolutionary diversification of the lizard genus Bassiana (Scincidae) across Southern Australia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Relatively recent (Plio-Pleistocene) climatic variations had strong impacts on the fauna and flora of temperate-zone North America and Europe; genetic analyses suggest that many lineages were restricted to unglaciated refuges during this time, and have expanded their ranges since then. Temperate-zone Australia experienced less severe glaciation, suggesting that patterns of genetic structure among species may reflect older (aridity-driven) divergence events rather than Plio-Pleistocene (thermally-mediated) divergences. The lizard genus Bassiana (Squamata, Scincidae) contains three species that occur across a wide area of southern Australia (including Tasmania), rendering them ideally-suited to studies on the impact of past climatic fluctuations.

Methodology/principal f

SUBMITTER: Dubey S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2945320 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature