Versión en español aquí A popular myth relates “evolution” with strictly long time periods, thousands or millions of years. This is understandable given that the most popular examples (dinosaurs – birds, Australopithecus – Homo sapiens) are those in which big changes needed a lot of time to “transform” a living being into a totally different…
…the fishes of the Bahamas are not only useful for food, but also as an attraction to the many visitors to the Islands. Their beauty in life, as they swim to and from among the sea fans and corals, is indescribable, and one never tires looking through the water bucket with glass bottom, or better…
The English version of this post was originally published in Anole Annals and can be found here. La Evolución de la Diversidad Morfológica en Tropidurines: La Influencia del Hábitat Fui lo suficientemente afortunado como para tener la oportunidad de trabajar algunos meses en el Museo de Zoología Comparativa de la Universidad de Harvard como parte…
Cover image by flickr user Javier Orellana Versión en español aquí! After many months, the last of the tropidurines has arrived. Phymaturus is a very particular genus of lizards and stands out of the rest of the genera in Tropidurinae because of its particular morphology, adapted to a life in rocky micro-habitats. In general, the…
Cover Illustration by Craig Latker Versión en español aquí! “Letters to a young scientist” is a small book that I really enjoyed reading. However, there is a special chapter to which I always return. I might have re-read it about 10 or more times. Even though I recommend the entire book (on it the recognized…
…He told me many stories of the Thylacine or Native Tiger, which is more abundant here than in any other part of the island, and takes a considerably yearly toll from the flocks of sheep. Since this carnivorous Marsupial is regularly hunted and trapped by the shepherds, and since it occurs only in the little…
Cover photo: Tropidurus hispidus, by Fernando Flores available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license Spanish version here! Almost since the beginning of this series it was already decided that Tropidurus would be left until the end. The reason is that I personally don’t know much about this genus. Additionally the species of the genus…
In addition to all these and many other birds and mammals, which had been our daily companions ever since our arrival in Patagonia, there was one curious little mammal belonging to an entirely different order, representatives of which we had not met with south of the Santa Cruz River. I refer to the little armadillo, Tatusia…
Versión en español aquí! Using the same data of my Tropidurinae lizards project I decided to do a quick experiment. Just wanted to visibly represent the differences in the morphological proportions of the genera within the Tropidurinae clade. In the original project I measured 15 morphological traits from museum specimens of 10 genera within the…
It has taken nature millions of years to produce the beautiful and wonderful varieties of animals which we are so rapidly exterminating. Unless we can create a sentiment which will check this slaughter, and devise laws for those who do not respect sentiment, the bones of our now common types will soon be as rare…
Versión en español aquí! Taxonomy is the study that reflects the obsession of humans for classifying everything. However, its utility is undeniable. The evolutionary relationships revealed through a correct taxonomic evaluation can help to answer several questions in respect to traits and behaviors showed by different species. Within tropidurines, the sub-family Liolaemidae is probably the…
Hauling the fishpots. Four of these were constantly in use during our stay and were hauled about once in three days. They were anchored out near the reefs and secured a good catch of reef fishes, many of them excellent for food and nearly all brilliantly colored. Hardly any other experience during the cruise was…
