| two malaria parasites (apicomplexa: plasmodiidae) of the australian skink egernia stokesii. | the australian skink egernia stokesii is parasitized uncommonly by plasmodium circularis n. sp. and by plasmodium mackerrasae. plasmodium circularis is distinguished from all other plasmodiids by immature schizonts that encircle host cell nuclei, forming an unbroken ring from apparent fusion of the attenuated ends. mature schizonts contract into halteridial or dumbbell-shaped forms 15.6 x 4.3 microm, lw 66.2 microm2, with 19-52 nuclei. rounded or oval gametocytes are 9.0 x 7.3 microm, lw 66.9 mi ... | 2000 | 10780562 |
| genetic evidence for a family structure in stable social aggregations of the australian lizard egernia stokesii. | in this study we used data from six unlinked microsatellite loci to examine stable aggregations of egernia stokesii, from a population in the southern flinders ranges of south australia. we show that these aggregations are comprised of breeding partners, their offspring from two or more cohorts, and related adults, providing the first genetic evidence of a family structure in any lizard species. despite this high level of relatedness within aggregations, most breeding pairs were unrelated and pa ... | 2001 | 11251796 |
| field observations on the phlebotomine sand fly australophlebotomus mackerrasi lewis and dyce feeding on the gidgee skink egernia stokesii gray. | | 2002 | 11954916 |
| high levels of genetic monogamy in the group-living australian lizard egernia stokesii. | the australian lizard egernia stokesii lives in spatially and temporally stable groups of up to 17 individuals. we have recently shown that these groups are comprised of breeding partners, their offspring and, in some cases, highly related adults, providing the first genetic evidence of a family structure in any lizard species. here we investigated the mating system of e. stokesii using data from up to eight polymorphic microsatellite loci and tested the hypothesis that breeding partners are mon ... | 2002 | 12207728 |
| stable social aggregations in an australian lizard, egernia stokesii. | social groups in many animal species contain family members, and are maintained by parental care, and then tolerance of related individuals in the group. lizards rarely show prolonged parental care, and rarely form stable social aggregations, although cohesive groups have been reported in the australian skink genus, egernia. a population of egernia stokesii was surveyed for six seasons on camel hill, south australia. at this site individuals occupied rock crevices for refuges on an isolated rock ... | 2002 | 12435097 |
| transmission mode and distribution of parasites among groups of the social lizard egernia stokesii. | we explored patterns of infection of three apicomplexan blood parasites with different transmission mechanisms in 46 social groups across seven populations of the australian lizard, egernia stokesii. there was higher aggregation of infections within social groups for hemolivia, transmitted by ticks, and schellackia, either tick-transmitted or directly transmitted from mother to offspring, than for plasmodium, with more mobile dipteran vectors. prevalence was not related to group size, proximity ... | 2006 | 16541264 |
| associations between blood parasite infection and a microsatellite dna allele in an australian scincid lizard (egernia stokesii). | we used blood samples from 175 individuals of the australian lizard egernia stokesii to determine infection status of three apicomplexan blood parasites from the genera hemolivia, schellackia, and plasmodium and to determine genotypes at 12 microsatellite dna loci. we found one significant association between genotype and infection status. for locus est4, individuals carrying allele 159 had lower prevalence of infection with hemolivia (14.3% of 28 lizards) than individuals that did not carry the ... | 2006 | 16826422 |
| genes and group membership predict gidgee skink (egernia stokesii) reproductive pairs. | due to their role in mate choice, disease resistance and kin recognition, genes of the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) are good candidates for investigating genetic-based mate choice. mhc-based mate choice is context dependent and influenced by many factors including social structure. social structure diversity makes the egernia group of lizards suitable for comparative studies of mhc-based mate choice. we investigated mate choice in the gidgee skink (egernia stokesii), a lizard that exhi ... | 2017 | 28407082 |
| egernia stokesii (gidgee skink) mhc i positively selected sites lack concordance with hla peptide binding regions. | genes of the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) play an important role in vertebrate disease resistance, kin recognition and mate choice. mammalian mhc is the most widely characterised of all vertebrates, and attention is often given to the peptide binding regions of the mhc because they are presumed to be under stronger selection than non-peptide binding regions. for vertebrates where the mhc is less well understood, researchers commonly use the amino acid positions of the peptide binding r ... | 2017 | 27517292 |
| mhc in a monogamous lizard--characterization of class i mhc genes in the australian skink tiliqua rugosa. | the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) is a highly variable region of vertebrate genomes that encodes cellular proteins involved in the immune response. in addition to the benefits of mhc research in understanding the genetic basis of host resistance to disease, the mhc is an ideal candidate for studying genetic diversity under strong natural selection. however, the mhc of many non-model vertebrate taxa are poorly characterized, hindering an understanding of disease resistance and its applic ... | 2015 | 26208969 |
| influence of drying time on nematode eggs in scats of scincid lizard egernia stokesii. | two pharyngodonid nematode species, pharyngodon tiliquae and thelandros trachysauri, infect the australian lizard egernia stokesii (gidgee skink) in populations from south australia. eggs are detected in lizard scats that are deposited in piles outside the rock crevice refuges that the lizards occupy. eggs were isolated by salt flotation from fresh scats and from scats that had been dried in simulated field conditions for 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. egg counts decreased with drying time for both nem ... | 2006 | 16629337 |
| selection outweighs drift at a fine scale: lack of mhc differentiation within a family living lizard across geographically close but disconnected rocky outcrops. | the highly polymorphic genes of the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) are involved in disease resistance, mate choice and kin recognition. therefore, they are widely used markers for investigating adaptive variation. although selection is the key driver, gene flow and genetic drift also influence adaptive genetic variation, sometimes in opposing ways and with consequences for adaptive potential. to further understand the processes that generate mhc variation, it is helpful to compare variat ... | 2018 | 29603473 |