Reptile Speciation Project

South African Reptile Speciation Project

South African Amphibian and Reptile Research Website

Southern Africa has the richest reptile fauna in Africa and the 3rd richest in the world. This is partly due to several extraordinary radiations in taxonomic groups such as geckos, chameleons and lacertids which have given rise to high diversity and endemism in the region. New species are being described every year, and there is no indication that alpha diversity has yet been captured. Much of the undiscovered diversity appears to be related to cryptic taxa, whereby traditional taxonomic tools alone (i.e. morphological characters) are insufficient to classify species. With the addition of molecular characters, previously unknown diversity is being uncovered at an extraordinary rate. Thus, allowing the re-examination of morphology for sets of characters that can be considered diagnostic for species. It is estimated that 80% of reptiles in southern Africa need taxonomic attention, and the most problematic groups have already been identified.

Working simultaneously on many reptile groups provides the unique opportunity of answering higher questions on the nature of the evolutionary history of reptiles, and understanding speciation in southern Africa. In addition to understanding speciation, we synergize morphology, genetics and performance data to support taxonomy.

Collecting performance data

In this project we focus on the following main research questions:

• Do phylogenies of priority reptile groups accurately reflect current taxonomic classifications?

• If phylogenetic patterns do not match current taxonomy, do phylogenetic patterns represent recent species radiations and are there cryptic species?

• Are species radiations adaptive and is specialization habitat and substrate driven?

• If species radiations are non-adaptive, do genera from mixed habitats have less specific morphological adaptations in order to fit any habitat?

• Are species radiations more prevalent in known biodiversity hotspots?

Essentially, we are asking the question: why are South African reptiles such a diverse group, and can we adequately capture and explain that diversity?

PROJECT NEWS!

January 2012: The chameleon team hit the road again together with chameleon locomotory specialist Tim Higham. A really tough time finding chameleons on the wild coast before heading back to Cape Town.

November 2011: One last strike at the lacertids. One trip, three destinations and a long wish list of lacertids. Lost of real highs for this lacertid team (Anthony, Bieke, John, Krystal & Shelley) who noosed in some of South Africa's really beautiful localities.

January 2011: After the HAA meeting in Cape Town, two teams launch off into South Africa to catch a last batch of lizards. Below the lacertid team (Alex, Bieke, Buyi & John) target Tropidosaura and Australolacterta. Note special guest star appearances by Jonno Colville and Andrew Turner. Ed & Stu also make an appearance - getting on with their work in Stellenbosch.

Meanwhile... the chameleon team (Anthony, Daniel, Jessica & Krystal) tour South Africa in search of Bradypodion species to complete their dataset.

January 2011: Reptile Speciation Project students sweep the honors board at the

HAA meeting in Cape Town. Project students: Jess daSilva, Shelley Edwards and Buyi Makhubo win best oral presentation, honorable mention oral presentation and honorable mention poster, respectively. Congratulations!

December 2010: South African lizards make it onto the big screen with x-ray video. Below is a video of a Pedioplanis lizard (from the Cederberg Mountains) sprinting taken with an fluoroscope. Currently working on trying to make the video run on this site... Once it's there, you can see each of the bones moving so that an analysis of this lizards internal movement while it is sprinting can be made.

November 2010: Team members put on their warmest clothes to visit Europe with live South African lizards. Shelley and Buyi get to grips with high speed video in Flanders:

October 2010: Dr Mike, Edgar, Agnes & Buyi all strike out for the Eastern Cape to collect Afroedura.

September & October 2010: A project team strike out to Namibia with the aim of collecting lacertid data from the world's oldest desert. As well as the dunes of the Namib, we collected animals from the gravel plains and Kalahari bushvelt. Team members: Bieke, Buyi, John, Krystal & Shelley.

April 2010: Stuart "stunie" Nielson (aka The Agama Kid) wins a Fulbright scholarship to spend 12 months working on the project in Cape Town! When he's awake, stunie will continue his work centred on agamas, cordylids and geckos.

March 2010: Axel Barlow & Wolfgang Wüster from University of Wales Bangor (UK) end their month long tour of South Africa on their quest for the country's common snakes. A quick drive over to Overberg produces another few Puff Adders and some other surprises.

March 2010: The team from the National Museum in Bloemfontein has been mountaineering their way around the Free State in search of Afroedura. "Please make sure these samples work, as I don't want to have to climb any of those mountains again!" says Mike Bates. Shown here, Agnes Phindane has found her way to a great looking Afroedura cliff!

March 2010: The team went to northern Free State (17-19 March 2010) to collect for various projects, including Dasypeltis and Agama. Photo taken at guest house in Bloemhof (town), North West Province. Agnes Phindane, Wolfgang Wüster
, Mike Bates, Edgar Mohapi & Axel 'the egg eating kid' Barlow.

January 2010: Conradie, Engelbrecht, Herrel, Measey, Nielsen, Tolley & Vanhooydonck all head off for the warm climes of Northern Cape and Limpopo. Staying at de Beers reserves Tswalu, Venitita and Rooiport they catch lots of lizards and more besides.
Northern Cape & Limpopo - January 2010

December 2009: Hanlie Engelbrecht joins the SANBI lab as an intern for 2 months. Hanlie spends time in the lab sequencing Tetradactylus and time in the field in KZN helping with Jess' chameleon sampling and January with the field trip to Northern Cape and Limpopo.

October 2009: The team visited Rooipoort Nature Reserve near Kimberley, to survey and collect data for the project. The species count was 147 records covering 34 species (6 frogs, 4 snakes, 3 chelonians and 22 lizards), which represents approximately 79% of all lizards, 75% of chelonians, 17% of snakes, 40% of frogs that would be expected in the area.

September 2009: Two project students from the University of the Free State Buyi Makhubo (R) and Lerato Mabe (L), visited the SANBI lab for two weeks to produce sequence data for Cordylids

July 2009: Project student Werner Conradie wins poster prize at the South African Society for Systematic Biology, Durban. His poster was entitled: "Phylogeny of the Pedioplanis benguellensis complex of south-western Angola"

June 2009: Tolley, Herrel and Measey awarded KISC-NRF funding for collaborative exchanges between SANBI and the CNRS

October 2008 - The collecting team on a farm in the Soutpansberg on 26 October 2008. We collected girdled lizards of the Cordylus warreni species complex here. Edgar Mohapi, Mike Bates, Jess da Silva & Ed 'the girdle' Stanley (puff up your chest and suck in that belly Ed, they're taking a picture).