by Whiting | Jun 29, 2013 | China field work, Dispatches from the field, Lab news, Lizard Lab adventures, Phrynocephalus, Social behaviour, Toad-headed agamas
I am currently in Xinjiang Province, northern China, with Dr. Qi Yin, our collaborator from the Chengdu Institute of Biology (CIB), which is part of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). We have funding from CAS to study the evolution of complex visual signals in...
by Whiting | May 26, 2013 | Animal signals, Communication, Lab news, Publications, Sexual selection
Dave Hamilton, Martin Whiting and Sarah Pryke Recently, the Pryke Lab published its first paper on a reptile—the iconic Frillneck Lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii). Both males and females have frills and until now, the consensus has always been that frills play a role in...
by Whiting | May 14, 2013 | Cane toad cognition, Cane toads, Lab news, Lizard Lab adventures
The Kimberley in Western Australia is a vast expanse of wilderness, famous for its pristine gorges and unique fauna. It’s also home to the highest species richness of goannas—up to 10 are sympatric in some areas. Sean Doody (University of Tennessee and Newcastle),...
by Noble | May 13, 2013 | Publications
Our new paper on female polyandry in E. quoyii has just been published in Behavioral Ecology. In this paper we tested a series of predictions that assessed the roles of direct and indirect genetic fitness benefits females may receive by mating with many males. Direct...
by Whiting | Mar 7, 2013 | Herpetology, Science news
I just learnt today that Hobart Muir Smith passed away a few days ago at age 100. Hobart is the most published herpetologist of all time (likely > 1600 publications) and is especially well known in North America and Mexico for his massive contribution to...
by Whiting | Feb 25, 2013 | Books, Lizard ecology, Science news
The Lizard Lab recently had the pleasure of a visit from Steve Wilson and he was kind enough to bring a few copies of his new book Australian Lizards: A Natural History. As Steve points out in the preface, we don’t hear people talking about lizards nearly enough! The...
by Whiting | Feb 14, 2013 | Behaviour, Frog, Lab news, Publications, Science news, Social behaviour
A major interest in our lab is social behaviour and why animals live in groups. Group formation has evolved numerous times independently in many different species. Understanding the proximate mechanisms and ultimate (evolutionary) factors driving group formation is a...
by Whiting | Feb 2, 2013 | Lab news
For those of you with Instagram accounts, the Lizard Lab has just launched it’s own account: lizardlab Please follow us! Here’s a sample of our Instagram photos:
by Whiting | Feb 2, 2013 | Lab news
The Australian Society of Herpetologists (ASH) just concluded its annual conference at Point Wolstoncroft at Lake Macquarie. The conference was one of the largest ASH meetings ever–maybe the largest (I forget), with 170 delegates. Martin, Dan, Siobhan and Grant...
by Whiting | Jan 26, 2013 | Lab news, Publications, Science news, Sexual selection, Water skink project
The sex life of Australian water skinks (Eulamprus) has received considerable attention in the past few decades. The Keogh Lab documented alternate reproductive tactics in E. heatwolei and Jess Stapley’s PhD focused in part, on fitness consequences of ARTs. More...
