As part of our field research, members of the A.P.E. lab occasionally stumble on a novel observation worthy of a published ‘natural history note’. Here, we note the observation of tail bifurcation in the western skink, Plestiodon skiltonianus:
Dr. Shoemaker’s PhD dissertation focused on the conservation of bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) in New York and Massachusetts. Building upon an existing capture-recapture dataset, he estimated population vital rates and abundance of these turtles in small wetlands in eastern New York (Dutchess County) and assessed for evidence of dispersal within a complex of multiple neighboring wetlands. His work also used microsatellite genotypes to further assess gene flow within these wetland…