Phylogeny, taxonomy, biogeography and evolution of asexuality within the southeast Asian lizard genus Leiolepis Cuvier, (1829)

The Southeast Asian agamid lizard genus Leiolepis Cuvier, (1829) is an enigmatic, lineage, differing form other lizard groups in general morphology and ecology. Currently, Leiolepis contains nine species that collectively range throughout Indochina and the Malay Peninsula. Of these nine species, four are all female, parthenogenic species. Unlike their sexual congeners, these asexual species have pocketed distributions throughout Southeast Asia and are only found in secondary, or perpetually disturbed habitat. Using the mtDNA gene ND2, and two rapidly evolving nuclear genes we investigated the origins of these asexual species, and present a species level phylogeny for Leiolepis.