| reconstructing an island radiation using ancient and recent dna: the extinct and living day geckos (phelsuma) of the mascarene islands. | mitochondrial (12srrna and cyt b, 1086 bp) and nuclear (c-mos, 374 bp) dna sequences were used to investigate relationships and biogeography of 24 living and extinct taxa of phelsuma geckos. monophyly of phelsuma and sister relationship to the sw african rhoptropella is corroborated. phelsuma originated on madagascar and made multiple long-distance invasions of oceanic islands including the mascarenes, aldabra, comores, seychelles, andamans, and perhaps pemba. the mascarenes were probably coloni ... | 2004 | 15019612 |
| gecko vision-visual cells, evolution, and ecological constraints. | geckos comprise both nocturnal and diurnal genera, and between these categories there are several transitions. as all geckos depend on their visual sense for prey capture, they are promising subjects for comparison of morphological modifications of visual cells adapted to very different photic environments. retinae of 22 species belonging to 15 genera with different activity periods are examined electron microscopically. scotopic and photopic vision in geckos is not divided between "classical" r ... | 2000 | 11279363 |