Australian skinks diversity is studied

ITHACA, N.Y., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are studying Australian "skinks" to determine why some animals evolve into thousands of species, while others include only a few.

Cornell University scientists studying Australia's most diverse group of vertebrates -- more than 252 species of finger-sized lizards called skinks -- have found evidence that the "drying up" of Australia during the past 20 million years triggered the animals' explosive diversification.

Graduate student Dan Rabosky, lead author of the study, said the researchers determined the groups with the most species are the ones that live in the driest parts of Australia.

That finding contradicts the usual pattern of species diversity found in other parts of the world.

"We typically think of lush tropical rainforests as being the world's major centers of diversity," said study co-author Irby Lovette, director of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology's Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program. "With the skinks, just the opposite has happened: the rainforest skinks in Australia have much lower diversity, and a lot of the evolutionary 'action' in this system is taking place in the deserts."

The research is reported in the online edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

NewsTrack: Australian skinks diversity is studied