A species-level phylogeny of Trachylepis (Scincidae: Mabuyinae) provides insight into their reproductive mode evolution

Trachylepis (Mabuyinae) includes ∼80 species of fully-limbed skinks found primarily in Africa and Madagascar, but a robust species-level phylogeny for this genus is lacking and this impedes studies on a wide-range of topics from biogeography to character evolution. Trachylepis and its close relatives (which together form the Mabuya group or Mabuyinae) are notable in that they have undergone multiple transitions and remarkable specializations in...