title: Contrasting models of parity-mode evolution in squamate reptiles.
abstract: Recent analyses using large-scale phylogenies suggest a radically different history for the evolution of live birth and egg laying in squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) than traditionally understood. What is the ancestral condition for lizards and snakes? How frequently does live bearing evolve in egg-laying lineages? Can the eggshell ever re-evolve in live-bearing lineages? Answering these fundamental questions about the evolution of key physiological processes will require additional data from genomic, developmental, and fossil data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: R Alexander
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pyron
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, The Graduate School and University Center, The City University of New York, New York, New York.|Department of Biology, The College of Staten Island, The City University of New York, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Frank T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Burbrink
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004528:Egg Shell; D005260:Female; D008116:Lizards / Q000235:genetics*; D052287:Oviparity; D012911:Snakes / Q000235:genetics*; D052286:Viviparity, Nonmammalian