Lizards of Patagonia / Natural and Social Sciences of Patagonia (PDF)

Dr. Mariana Morando is a Principal Researcher at the National Research Council of Argentina, working at the Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales of Puerto Madryn, Chubut, and Professor of Evolution and Genetics at the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco. She completed her basic studies at the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto in 1994, a Master at Brigham Young University (BYU, USA) in 2003, her PhD at Universidad Nacional de Tucumán in 2004 (Argentina), and a postdoctoral leave at BYU in 2014-2015. Her research focuses on phylogenetic and phylogeographic aspects of the Patagonian and northwestern lizard fauna of Argentina, mainly using molecular markers. She has authored or co-authored 117 peer-reviewed papers.
Dr. Luciano Javier Avila is a Principal Researcher at the National Research Council of Argentina working at the Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales of Puerto Madryn, Chubut. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto in 1990, his PhD at the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman in 1996 and a postdoctoral stay at Brigham Young University (USA) in 2000-2004. His research focuses on the taxonomy, phylogeny and natural history of the southern South American Herpetofauna. He is the author or co-author of 195 articles and notes on species limits, phylogenies, phylogeographies, bioinventories, biogeography, spatial ecology and natural history (including 90 peer-reviewed articles), nearly 80% of which involved Patagonian lizards.