Like anoles, geckos are famous for their adhesive toepads, enabling astonishing climbing abilities. Since adhesive toepads evolved independently in geckos and anoles, these two rather distantly related lizard clades have become the poster-children of convergent evolution in climbing. But, astonishingly, how such a complex system actually evolves has until recently garnered little attention. And while anoles have long been celebrated for their sticky pads, the literature tends to treat the spectacular adhesive system in a binary fashion as either being present (full pads) or absent (pad‑less) in geckos– despite the fact that earlier research already indicated that this might not be the case.

Background The brown anole is a model species of the genus Anolis, a squamate (encompassing lizards and snakes) group widely studied in evolutionary, behavioral, and developmental biology. Full geno...

In most animal species, the sex determining pathway is typically initiated by the presence/absence of a primary genetic cue at a critical point during development. This primary genetic cue is often lo...

To mark the 200th anniversary of Wallace’s birth, an article exploring the friendship between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.

BMC Genomics - Transposable elements (TEs), often referred to as ‘selfish genetic elements’, hijack their host’s genetic machinery to replicate themselves within the host genome,...

The molecular, cellular, and functional restoration of the axolotl thymus after de novo regeneration is described.

Abstract. The distributions of species radiations reflect environmental changes driven by both Earth history (geological processes) and the evolution of bi

Abstract. Using the voice to produce sound is a widespread form of communication and plays an important role across diverse species and contexts. Variation

Abstract. Reconstructions of evolutionary history can be restricted by a lack of high-quality reference genomes. To date, only four of the eight species of