Reptiles use pterin and carotenoid pigments to produce yellow, orange, and red colors.
These conspicuous colors serve a diversity of signaling functions, but their molecular basis …

The designation of taxonomic units has important implications for the understanding and
conservation of biodiversity. Eurasian vipers are a monophyletic group of viperid snakes …

Aim In contrast to the attention given to southern Europe both as a centre of speciation and
differentiation and as a Pleistocene refugium of Western Palaearctic taxa, North Africa has …

Climate change is negatively affecting many species. The increase in mean air temperature
is often associated with shifts in distribution, changes in phenology, and local extinctions …

Interspecific introgression is a potentially important source of novel variation of adaptive
significance. Although multiple cases of adaptive introgression are well documented …

What process triggered the Mediterranean Sea restriction remains debated since the
discovery of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Recent hypotheses infer that the MSC …

Background Pleistocene climatic oscillations have played a major role in structuring present-
day biodiversity. The southern Mediterranean peninsulas have long been recognized as …

Understanding the relationship between form and function is central to our comprehension
of how phenotypic diversity evolves. Traits involved in multiple activities, such as social …

Acanthodactylus lizards are among the most diverse and widespread diurnal reptiles in the
arid regions spanning from North Africa across to western India. Acanthodactylus constitutes …

The Pleistocene glacial cycles had a profound impact on the ranges and genetic make‐up of
organisms. While it is clear that the contact zones that have been described for many sister …