The Fifth World Congress of Herpetology, held in 2005 at the University of Stellenbosch (Republic of South Africa), provided an excellent opportunity to host a symposium on the evolution of viviparity in reptiles. Several symposia on viviparity have been held during the past 15 years, and these have yielded comprehensive reviews of squamates (e.g., Blackburn, 1993, 1998, 2000; Stewart, 1993; Stewart and Thompson, 2000, 2003; Thompson et al., 2000, 2004) and many other papers. However, most of these symposia were limited in scope to particular features (placental membranes, the oviduct) or aspects (morphology, physiology). The World Congress venue represented the first broad-based symposium to focus on viviparity in squamates, a taxon of special importance to biologists interested in viviparity. This symposium was multi-disciplinary, and integrated morphology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and evolutionary theory.
The evolution of viviparity holds intrinsic interest for a...