Our new paper is out in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution!
Using geometric morphometrics, we evaluated parallel morphological differences in toe pad shape across geckos. We also adapted the use of phylogenetic independent contrasts for shape data to conduct a node height test. We found multiple examples of significant parallel differences in toe pad morphology and support for a model of early burst morphological evolution suggesting the diversification of Gekkotan toe pads included repeated parallel changes from padless ancestral morphologies to repeated derived pad bearing morphologies. This morphological diversification occurred rapidly early in the diversification of gecko families and genera and slowed more recently, during diversification within genera.