| Thesis Title | Natural-history and radiation of monitor lizards (Genus Varanus): consequences of phylogeny, allometry, and life-history. |
| Current Projects | Writing thesis chapters on the phylogenetics of Varanidae, analyzing morphometric and life-history data from museum specimens, and preparing Tree of Life pages for the Anguimorpha lineage of lizards. |
| Undergrad. Institution | University of Washington, Dept. of Zoology, B.S., 1993. |
| Hobbies | Mt. Biking, hiking, gar fishing, photography... |
Research Interests
My
research focuses on the evolutionary history of monitor lizards.
Monitors are large predatory lizards found throughout most of the Old World.
This group consists of 49 species in the genus Varanus. I
am reconstructing the phylogeny of these species using DNA sequence data
to test hypotheses of the covariance between body size, life history, and
habitat use. Monitors show dramatic variation among species in these
traits making them ideal to test hypotheses regarding the influence of
body size on variation in ecologies and reproductive tactics. The
body mass range of extant varanids from the genus Varanus is over
4000-fold, the largest range of size found in any genus of terrestrial
vertebrates. The largest monitor hatchlings are about 10 times greater
in mass than the smallest adult monitor species and average clutch sizes
range from 2 to 24 eggs per clutch. The goal of this study is to
identify factors that can account for this extreme variation.
Surprisingly, most studies of life-history variation among Squamata have
not included any members from the family Varanidae.
Previous Research Projects
send email: pepin@biodec.wustl.edu