Cnemidophorus laredoensis

Number of Pages: 5Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Observations on the Natural History of the Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus (Sauria: Gekkonidae) in Northwest Arkansas

The Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, is a small nocturnal lizard introduced into the U.S. A stable population on the campus of Westark Community College in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas represents the northernmost U.S. population presently known. We report data on microhabitat usage, feeding behavior, reproduction, and activity patterns. This gecko is active on the outside of buildings during warm months of the year and occasionally inside buildings during the winter. It is most abundant on buildings with many crevices that are used as daytime retreats. It avoids direct illumination of artificial light and usually perches at heights greater than 7.5 meters. Geckos are not territorial during their nocturnal foraging period and employ a sit-and-wait tactic to capture insect prey. Eggs are laid in mid-June and hatch in mid August; this reproductive season is later and shorter than it is in more southern populations. Communal nesting may be employed. A nightly bimodal activity pattern was observed with peaks of activity at 2300 and 0300 after which activity declined rapidly

Aspidoscelis laredoensis and A. gularis hybridization.

13 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm.Karyotypes and allozyme data for 32 genetic loci overwhelmingly support the conclusion that Aspidoscelis laredoensis is a diploid all-female species that had a hybrid origin between A. gularis x A. sexlineatus. Comparisons of allozymes in individuals representing three mother-to-daughter generations raised in the laboratory suggest that they reproduce by parthenogenetic cloning. In addition to two previously described morphotypes (pattern classes A and B) that occur in southern Texas, we report the existence of three all-female clonal lineages based on allozymes. Individuals of at least one of these lineages occasionally hybridize in nature with males of A. gularis, producing viable and healthy triploid offspring that can grow to adulthood, one of which herself produced an offspring in the laboratory and could have represented a new, clonal triploid species. The possibility exists that cloned offspring of triploid hybrids are present in South Texas and/or northern Mexico, awaiting discovery. These would represent a new species that would appear to be very similar to A. laredoensis

The RESET project: constructing a European tephra lattice for refined synchronisation of environmental and archaeological events during the last c. 100 ka

This paper introduces the aims and scope of the RESET project (. RESponse of humans to abrupt Environmental Transitions), a programme of research funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) between 2008 and 2013; it also provides the context and rationale for papers included in a special volume of Quaternary Science Reviews that report some of the project's findings. RESET examined the chronological and correlation methods employed to establish causal links between the timing of abrupt environmental transitions (AETs) on the one hand, and of human dispersal and development on the other, with a focus on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods. The period of interest is the Last Glacial cycle and the early Holocene (c. 100-8 ka), during which time a number of pronounced AETs occurred. A long-running topic of debate is the degree to which human history in Europe and the Mediterranean region during the Palaeolithic was shaped by these AETs, but this has proved difficult to assess because of poor dating control. In an attempt to move the science forward, RESET examined the potential that tephra isochrons, and in particular non-visible ash layers (cryptotephras), might offer for synchronising palaeo-records with a greater degree of finesse. New tephrostratigraphical data generated by the project augment previously-established tephra frameworks for the region, and underpin a more evolved tephra 'lattice' that links palaeo-records between Greenland, the European mainland, sub-marine sequences in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The paper also outlines the significance of other contributions to this special volume: collectively, these illustrate how the lattice was constructed, how it links with cognate tephra research in Europe and elsewhere, and how the evidence of tephra isochrons is beginning to challenge long-held views about the impacts of environmental change on humans during the Palaeolithic. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.RESET was funded through Consortium Grants awarded by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK, to a collaborating team drawn from four institutions: Royal Holloway University of London (grant reference NE/E015905/1), the Natural History Museum, London (NE/E015913/1), Oxford University (NE/E015670/1) and the University of Southampton, including the National Oceanography Centre (NE/01531X/1). The authors also wish to record their deep gratitude to four members of the scientific community who formed a consultative advisory panel during the lifetime of the RESET project: Professor Barbara Wohlfarth (Stockholm University), Professor Jørgen Peder Steffensen (Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen), Dr. Martin Street (Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Neuwied) and Professor Clive Oppenheimer (Cambridge University). They provided excellent advice at key stages of the work, which we greatly valued. We also thank Jenny Kynaston (Geography Department, Royal Holloway) for construction of several of the figures in this paper, and Debbie Barrett (Elsevier) and Colin Murray Wallace (Editor-in-Chief, QSR) for their considerable assistance in the production of this special volume.Peer Reviewe

Diet of sympatric pattern classes C and E of the parthenogenetic whiptail lizard Aspidoscelis tesselata at Sumner Lake, De Baca County, New Mexico

The diploid checkered whiptail lizard, Aspidoscelis tesselata, is a parthenogenetic species that occupies semiarid habitats in the southwestern USA. It comprises several morphologically distinct pattern classes that occasionally coexist within the same geographical area. Two pattern classes, C and E, coexist on both sides of Sumner Lake and the Pecos River in Sumner Lake State Park, De Baca County, New Mexico. Individuals of pattern class C are larger than individuals of pattern class E (they also produce larger clutches and take longer to reach reproductive maturity). Herein we present analyses of the stomach contents of specimens collected at Sumner Lake to determine if these 2 pattern classes show differences in their diets. Termites made up over 70% of the prey items found in the stomachs of both pattern classes, but when analyzed by volume, the most important prey were cicadas, planthoppers, and short-horned grasshoppers for pattern class C, and short-horned grasshoppers, cicadas, long-horned grasshoppers, termites, and scarab beetles for pattern class E. Considering prey other than termites, pattern class C lizards tended to consume larger prey items than did pattern class E lizards. Aside from this size-related difference, the diet of the 2 pattern classes at Sumner Lake was similar. This lends support to the hypothesis that body size and reproductive differences between the 2 pattern classes are genetically based