| lizards in 'nuclear families': a novel reptilian social system in egernia saxatilis (scincidae). | recent research has revealed unsuspected complexity in social organization among squamate reptiles. in particular, large australian scincid lizards of the genus egernia have been reported to occur in large aggregations of closely related individuals. however, the 'nuclear family' structure found in many other 'social' organisms (especially birds) has not been reported from reptiles. our field studies on black rock skinks (egernia saxatilis) in southeastern australia document exactly this pattern ... | 2003 | 12675829 |