Three Lizard Species Turn White Simultaneously in White Sands

Wild:

Her focus has been on three lizard species that elsewhere are dark skinned but in White Sands have each evolved a white-skinned variety that makes them hard to find. It’s a great example of convergent evolution, of species independently acquiring the same traits. … Sure, these three lizards all developed white skin, but did they do it in the same way? Dr. Rosenblum and her colleagues have provided answers to this question in a paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.“At first blush it seems like the answer is yes,” she said. In at least two of the lizard species, the researchers found that mutations on the same gene, linked to the production of the skin pigment melanin, were responsible.

via Observatory – Lizards Newly White, at White Sands in New Mexico – NYTimes.com.


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