Sam Houston State University professors are continually involved in amazing and interesting pursuits.
Sam Houston State University associate professor Juan Diego Daza in the Department of Biological Sciences for example has collaborated with fellow herpetology researchers nationwide to place an extinct, giant gecko in its proper place on the evolutionary timeline. Their collaborative research allowed them to not only contribute to the study of the evolution of geckos but also added to current discussions of gigantism in isolated island environments.
DNA from a 200-year-old museum specimen helped researchers resolve the evolutionary relationships of an extinct, giant gecko. Extracting and sequencing DNA from the gecko allowed researchers to reconstruct its evolutionary relationships with living gecko species. The results, published in the journal “Scientific Reports,” place the specimen in the gecko evolutionary tree and provide insights as to where the giant creature might have lived.
