diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index c9596a8c20..52768bcd1b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,17 +1,6 @@
 v1.5.0 (XXXX-XX-XX)
 -------------------
 
-* added command-line option `--server.disable-authentication-unix-sockets`
-  
-  with this option, authentication can be disabled for all requests coming
-  in via UNIX domain sockets, enabling clients located on the same host as
-  the ArangoDB server to connect without authentication.
-  Other connections (e.g. TCP/IP) are not affected by this option.
- 
-  The default value for this option is `false`.
-  Note: this option is only supported on platforms that support Unix domain
-  sockets.
-
 * fail if invalid `strategy`, `order` or `itemOrder` attribute values
   are passed to the AQL TRAVERSAL function. Omitting these attributes 
   is not considered an error, but specifying an invalid value for any
@@ -162,6 +151,48 @@ v1.5.0 (XXXX-XX-XX)
 v1.4.9 (XXXX-XX-XX)
 -------------------
 
+* added AQL function `SKIPLIST` to directly access skiplist indexes from AQL
+  
+  This is a shortcut method to use a skiplist index for retrieving specific documents in 
+  indexed order. The function capability is rather limited, but it may be used
+  for several cases to speed up queries. The documents are returned in index order if
+  only one condition is used.
+
+      /* return all documents with mycollection.created > 12345678 */
+      FOR doc IN SKIPLIST(mycollection, { created: [[ '>', 12345678 ]] })
+        RETURN doc
+
+      /* return first document with mycollection.created > 12345678 */
+      FOR doc IN SKIPLIST(mycollection, { created: [[ '>', 12345678 ]] }, 0, 1)
+        RETURN doc
+
+      /* return all documents with mycollection.created between 12345678 and 123456790 */
+      FOR doc IN SKIPLIST(mycollection, { created: [[ '>', 12345678 ], [ '<=', 123456790 ]] })
+        RETURN doc
+
+      /* return all documents with mycollection.a equal 1 and .b equal 2 */
+      FOR doc IN SKIPLIST(mycollection, { a: [[ '==', 1 ]], b: [[ '==', 2 ]] })
+        RETURN doc
+
+  The function requires a skiplist index with the exact same attributes to 
+  be present on the specified colelction. All attributes present in the skiplist
+  index must be specified in the conditions specified for the `SKIPLIST` function.
+  Attribute declaration order is important, too: attributes must be specified in the 
+  same order in the condition as they have been declared in the skiplist index.
+
+* added command-line option `--server.disable-authentication-unix-sockets`
+  
+  with this option, authentication can be disabled for all requests coming
+  in via UNIX domain sockets, enabling clients located on the same host as
+  the ArangoDB server to connect without authentication.
+  Other connections (e.g. TCP/IP) are not affected by this option.
+ 
+  The default value for this option is `false`.
+  Note: this option is only supported on platforms that support Unix domain
+  sockets.
+
+* call global arangod instance destructor on shutdown
+
 * issue #755: TRAVERSAL does not use strategy, order and itemOrder options
 
   these options were not honored when configuring a traversal via the AQL
diff --git a/Documentation/UserManual/Aql.md b/Documentation/UserManual/Aql.md
index 284827f6ba..a0eb4994ec 100644
--- a/Documentation/UserManual/Aql.md
+++ b/Documentation/UserManual/Aql.md
@@ -1727,6 +1727,23 @@ function categories:
       DOCUMENT("users/john")
       DOCUMENT([ "users/john", "users/amy" ])
 
+- @FN{SKIPLIST(@FA{collection}, @FA{condition}, @FA{skip}, @FA{limit})}: return all documents 
+  from a skiplist index on collection @FA{collection} that match the specified @FA{condition}.
+  This is a shortcut method to use a skiplist index for retrieving specific documents in 
+  indexed order. The skiplist index supports equality and less than/greater than queries. The
+  @FA{skip} and @FA{limit} parameters are optional but can be specified to further limit the
+  results:
+
+      SKIPLIST(test, { created: [[ '>', 0 ]] }, 0, 100)
+      SKIPLIST(test, { age: [[ '>', 25 ], [ '<=', 65 ]] })
+      SKIPLIST(test, { a: [[ '==', 10 ]], b: [[ '==', 25 ]] }
+
+  The @FA{condition} document must contain an entry for each attribute that is contained in the
+  index. It is not allowed to specify just a subset of attributes that are present in an index.
+  Additionally the attributes in the @FA{condition} document must be specified in the same order 
+  as in the index. 
+  If no suitable skiplist index is found, an error will be raised and the query will be aborted.
+
 High-level operations {#AqlOperations}
 ======================================
 
diff --git a/arangod/Ahuacatl/ahuacatl-functions.c b/arangod/Ahuacatl/ahuacatl-functions.c
index b8d1c3d767..0a15878e5e 100644
--- a/arangod/Ahuacatl/ahuacatl-functions.c
+++ b/arangod/Ahuacatl/ahuacatl-functions.c
@@ -716,6 +716,7 @@ TRI_associative_pointer_t* TRI_CreateFunctionsAql (void) {
   REGISTER_FUNCTION("FIRST_LIST", "FIRST_LIST", true, false, ".|+", NULL);
   REGISTER_FUNCTION("FIRST_DOCUMENT", "FIRST_DOCUMENT", true, false, ".|+", NULL);
   REGISTER_FUNCTION("PARSE_IDENTIFIER", "PARSE_IDENTIFIER", true, false, ".", NULL);
+  REGISTER_FUNCTION("SKIPLIST", "SKIPLIST_QUERY", false, false, "h,a|n,n", NULL);
 
   if (! result) {
     TRI_FreeFunctionsAql(functions);
diff --git a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/ahuacatl.js b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/ahuacatl.js
index ffb9535338..0dbb1ecfdc 100644
--- a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/ahuacatl.js
+++ b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/ahuacatl.js
@@ -3284,6 +3284,51 @@ function PARSE_IDENTIFIER (value) {
   THROW(INTERNAL.errors.ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT_TYPE_MISMATCH, "PARSE_IDENTIFIER");
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief query a skiplist index
+///
+/// returns a documents from a skiplist index on the specified collection. Only
+/// documents that match the specified condition will be returned.
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+function SKIPLIST_QUERY (collection, condition, skip, limit) {
+  "use strict";
+
+  var keys = [ ], key, idx;
+
+  for (key in condition) {
+    if (condition.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
+      keys.push(key);
+    }
+  }
+    
+  var c = COLLECTION(collection);
+  if (c === null) {
+    THROW(INTERNAL.errors.ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_NOT_FOUND, collection);
+  }
+
+  idx = c.lookupSkiplist.apply(c, keys);
+
+  if (idx === null) {
+    THROW(INTERNAL.errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX);
+  }
+
+  if (skip === undefined || skip === null) {
+    skip = 0;
+  }
+
+  if (limit === undefined || limit === null) {
+    limit = null;
+  }
+ 
+  try {
+    return c.BY_CONDITION_SKIPLIST(idx.id, condition, skip, limit).documents; 
+  }
+  catch (err) {
+    THROW(INTERNAL.errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX);
+  }
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 /// @brief check whether a document has a specific attribute
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -4210,6 +4255,7 @@ exports.NOT_NULL = NOT_NULL;
 exports.FIRST_LIST = FIRST_LIST;
 exports.FIRST_DOCUMENT = FIRST_DOCUMENT;
 exports.PARSE_IDENTIFIER = PARSE_IDENTIFIER;
+exports.SKIPLIST_QUERY = SKIPLIST_QUERY;
 exports.HAS = HAS;
 exports.ATTRIBUTES = ATTRIBUTES;
 exports.UNSET = UNSET;
diff --git a/js/server/tests/ahuacatl-functions.js b/js/server/tests/ahuacatl-functions.js
index 500443b056..8220a4fcef 100644
--- a/js/server/tests/ahuacatl-functions.js
+++ b/js/server/tests/ahuacatl-functions.js
@@ -2147,6 +2147,106 @@ function ahuacatlFunctionsTestSuite () {
       internal.db._drop(cn);
     },
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief test skiplist function
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    
+    testSkiplist1 : function () {
+      var cn = "UnitTestsAhuacatlFunctions";
+
+      internal.db._drop(cn);
+      var cx = internal.db._create(cn);
+      cx.ensureSkiplist("created");
+
+      var i;
+      for (i = 0; i < 1000; ++i) {
+        cx.save({ created: i });
+      }
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 0 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>=', 0 ]] }, 0, 1) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>=', 0 ], [ '<', 1 ]] }) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 1 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>', 0 ]] }, 0, 1) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>', 0 ], [ '<=', 1 ]] }) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 0 }, { created: 1 }, { created: 2 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>=', 0 ]] }, 0, 3) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 5 }, { created: 6 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>=', 0 ]] }, 5, 2) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 5 }, { created: 6 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>=', 5 ], [ '<=', 6 ]] }, 0, 5) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 5 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>=', 5 ], [ '<=', 6 ]] }, 0, 1) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { created: 2 }, { created: 3 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '<', 4 ]] }, 2, 10) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { created: [[ '>', 0 ]] }, 10000, 10) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      assertQueryError(errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX.code, "RETURN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 1 ]] })"); 
+      
+      internal.db._drop(cn);
+    },
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief test skiplist function
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    
+    testSkiplist2 : function () {
+      var cn = "UnitTestsAhuacatlFunctions";
+
+      internal.db._drop(cn);
+      var cx = internal.db._create(cn);
+      
+      assertQueryError(errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX.code, "RETURN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 1 ]], b: [[ '==', 0 ]] })"); 
+
+      cx.ensureSkiplist("a", "b");
+
+      var i;
+      for (i = 0; i < 1000; ++i) {
+        cx.save({ a: i, b: i + 1 });
+      }
+      
+      expected = [ { a: 1, b: 2 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 1 ]], b: [[ '>=', 2 ], [ '<=', 3 ]] }) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      expected = [ { a: 1, b: 2 } ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 1 ]], b: [[ '==', 2 ]] }) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      assertQueryError(errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX.code, "RETURN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { b: [[ '==', 2 ]], a: [[ '==', 1 ]] })"); 
+      
+      expected = [ ];
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 2 ]], b: [[ '==', 1 ]] }, 1, 1) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      actual = getQueryResults("FOR x IN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 99 ]], b: [[ '==', 17 ]] }, 1, 1) RETURN x"); 
+      assertEqual(expected, actual);
+      
+      assertQueryError(errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX.code, "RETURN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { a: [[ '==', 1 ]] })"); 
+      assertQueryError(errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX.code, "RETURN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { b: [[ '==', 1 ]] })"); 
+      assertQueryError(errors.ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX.code, "RETURN SKIPLIST(" + cn + ", { c: [[ '==', 1 ]] })"); 
+      
+      internal.db._drop(cn);
+    },
+      
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 /// @brief test min function
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////