Xantusia Lizard Ecomorphs

A new paper by Sonal Singhal and her colleagues uses the example of night lizard (Xantusia) ecomorphs to look at different approaches to understanding speciation. My role as a science illustrator was to paint the two species, paying close attention to their morphological differences, and their distinct habitats: rock crevices and decaying plant matter.

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The paintings were all created using watercolor and a little white gouache. Creating the backgrounds was a ton of fun and very different from my usual process. Most of my paintings are detailed and involve tiny brushes. For these backgrounds, I let the paint and water do their magic without much plan in mind. Using a ton of water, some choice colors, and a little bit of salt, the first layer of paint showed the contours of the rocks and leaves. I was then able to go in and add the leaf veins and shadows to complete the background paintings. 

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To read more about this research: https://academic.oup.com/evolinnean/article/3/1/kzae024/7777004​