Groundbreaking new species paper to aid jungle conservation Dec.
4, 2012 By Darla Martin Tucker RIVERSIDE, Calif. –
(www.lasierra.edu) The subject line of the email to La Sierra
University herpetologist Lee Grismer read, “you’re not going to
believe this.” A much-published, much-traveled scientist with
more than 100 new species discoveries under his belt, Grismer
nearly fell over when he read the rest of the message. It came
from Perry L. Wood, Grimser’s former student now a doctoral
candidate at Brigham Young University. The email confirmed the
herpetologist’s hunch that seven, nearly identical Bent-toed
Southeast Asian geckos, previously believed to be one species,
were in fact seven separate species descending from a single
common ancestor. Wood used DNA analyses to make the
determination. “We were absolutely astonished,” said Grismer.
“It makes you feel like you’re doing something right because I
had sort of predicted this.” Wood and Grismer differentiated the
geckos through the use of Wood’s DNA sequenci