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Image 9 in Taxonomic status of the arboreal Skink Lizard Dasia halianus (Haly & Nevill, 1887) in Sri Lanka and the redescription of Dasia subcaeruleum (Boulenger, 1891) from India
Image 9. Dorsolateral view of the lectotype Dasia halianus BMNH 1908.3.19.3.
Image 5 in Taxonomic status of the arboreal Skink Lizard Dasia halianus (Haly & Nevill, 1887) in Sri Lanka and the redescription of Dasia subcaeruleum (Boulenger, 1891) from India
Image 5. The dorsal view of type specimen of Dasia subcaeruleum BMNH 1946[1].8.15.55 011.
Image 7 in Taxonomic status of the arboreal Skink Lizard Dasia halianus (Haly & Nevill, 1887) in Sri Lanka and the redescription of Dasia subcaeruleum (Boulenger, 1891) from India
Image 7. Lateral view of NMSL R.S.K. II.
Data from: Climate change, extinction, and Sky Island biogeography in a montane lizard
Around the world, many species are confined to "Sky Islands," with different populations in isolated patches of montane habitat. How does this pattern arise? One scenario is that montane species were widespread in lowlands when climates were cooler, and were isolated by local extinction caused by warming conditions. This scenario implies that many montane species may be highly susceptible to anthropogenic warming. Here, we test this scenario in a montane lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii) from the Madrean Sky Islands of southeastern Arizona. We combined data from field surveys, climate, population genomics, and physiology. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that this species' current distribution is explained by local extinction caused by past climate change. However, our results for this species differ from simple expectations in several ways: (1) their absence at lower elevations is related to warm winter temperatures, not hot summer temperatures; (2) they appear to exclude a low-elevation congener from higher elevations, not the converse; (3) they are apparently absent from many climatically suitable but low mountain ranges, seemingly "pushed off the top" by climates even warmer than those today; (4) despite the potential for dispersal among ranges during recent glacial periods (~18,000 years ago), populations in different ranges diverged ~4.5–0.5 million years ago and remained largely distinct; and (5) body temperatures are inversely related to climatic temperatures among sites. These results may have implications for many other Sky Island systems. More broadly, we suggest that Sky Island species may be relevant for predicting responses to future warming.
Data from: Divergent male and female mate preferences do not explain incipient speciation between lizard lineages
<p>Diversification in sexual signals is often taken as evidence for the importance of sexual selection in speciation. However, in order for sexual selection to generate reproductive isolation between populations, both signals and mate preferences must diverge together. Furthermore, assortative mating may result from multiple behavioural mechanisms, including female mate preferences, male mate preferences and male-male competition; yet their relative contributions are rarely evaluated. Here, we explored the role of mate preferences and male competitive ability as potential barriers to gene flow between two divergent lineages of the tawny dragon lizard, Ctenophorus decresii, which differ in male throat coloration. We found stronger behavioural barriers to pairings between southern lineage males and northern lineage females than between northern males and southern females, indicating incomplete and asymmetric behavioural isolating barriers. These results were driven by both male and female mate preferences rather than lineage differences in male competitive ability. Intrasexual selection is therefore unlikely to drive the outcome of secondary contact in C. decresii, despite its widely acknowledged importance in lizards. Our results are consistent with the emerging view that although both male and female mate preferences can diverge alongside sexual signals, speciation is rarely driven by divergent sexual selection alone.</p> <p> </p>
Data from: Life-history differences across latitude in common side blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana)
Life‐history strategies are known to shift with latitude in many species. While life‐history variation related to body size, reproductive investment, and behavior has been studied for years, another crucial life‐history component is the immune system, which can influence an animal's survival. We measured selected life‐history traits in side‐blotched lizards in southern Utah and Oregon in the field for two consecutive years and conducted a common‐garden experiment in the laboratory to determine how organisms from different latitudes optimize either immunity or reproduction. We observed lizards from southern populations, which are known to be shorter‐lived, had lower immune function during reproduction when compared to northern lizards in 2012, but the relationship reversed in the following year. Our laboratory study revealed that southern lizards healed cutaneous wounds faster and had higher microbiocidal ability when compared to their northern counterparts, but lost mass doing so. The northern lizards ate more than the southern ones and maintained their body mass. It is possible that northern lizards are better adapted to taking advantage of available food resources. Alternatively, southern lizards may have exhibited sickness behavior in response to an immune challenge or reacted more strongly to the stress of captivity. We found differences in life‐history strategies used by animals from different latitudes, and that these changes can shift within a population depending on the weather conditions of the year. Furthermore, when taken from the field and placed into a common‐garden environment, some of these differences in strategy appear to be intrinsic to the animals (i.e., whether they came from southern or northern populations).
Data from: Divergent habitat use of two urban lizard species
Faunal responses to anthropogenic habitat modification represent an important aspect of global change. In Puerto Rico, two species of arboreal lizard, Anolis cristatellus and A. stratulus, are commonly encountered in urban areas, yet seem to use the urban habitat in different ways. In this study, we quantified differences in habitat use between these two species in an urban setting. For each species, we measured habitat use and preference, and the niche space of each taxon, with respect to manmade features of the urban environment. To measure niche space of these species in an urban environment, we collected data from a total of six urban sites across four different municipalities on the island of Puerto Rico. We quantified relative abundance of both species, their habitat use, and the available habitat in the environment to measure both microhabitat preference in an urban setting, as well as niche partitioning between the two different lizards. Overall, we found that the two species utilize different portions of the urban habitat. Anolis stratulus tends to use more "natural" portions of the urban environment (i.e., trees and other cultivated vegetation), whereas A. cristatellus more frequently uses anthropogenic structures. We also found that aspects of habitat discrimination in urban areas mirror a pattern measured in prior studies for forested sites in which A. stratulus was found to perch higher than A. cristatellus and preferred lower temperatures and greater canopy cover. In our study, we found that the multivariate niche space occupied by A. stratulus did not differ from the available niche space in natural portions of the urban environment and in turn represented a subset of the niche space occupied by A. cristatellus. The unique niche space occupied by A. cristatellus corresponds to manmade aspects of the urban environment generally not utilized by A. stratulus. Our results demonstrate that some species are merely tolerant of urbanization while others utilize urban habitats in novel ways. This finding has implications for long-term persistence in urban habitats and suggests that loss of natural habitat elements may lead to nonrandom species extirpations as urbanization intensifies.
Data from: Diet variability among insular populations of Podarcis lizards reveals diverse strategies to face resource-limited environments
Access to resources is a dynamic and multi-causal process that determines the success and survival of a population. It is therefore often challenging to disentangle the factors affecting ecological traits like diet. Insular habitats provide a good opportunity to study how variation in diet originates, in particular in populations of mesopredators such as lizards. Indeed, high levels of population density associated with low food abundance and low predation are selection pressures typically observed on islands. In the present study, the diet of eighteen insular populations of two closely related species of lacertid lizards (Podarcis sicula and Podarcis melisellensis) was assessed. Our results reveal that despite dietary variability among populations, diet taxonomic diversity is not impacted by island area. In contrast, however, diet disparity metrics, based on the variability in the physical (hardness) and behavioral (evasiveness) properties of ingested food items, are correlated with island size. These findings suggest that an increase in intraspecific competition for access to resources may induce shifts in functional components of the diet. Additionally, the two species differed in the relation between diet disparity and island area suggesting that different strategies exist to deal with low food abundance in these two species. Finally, sexual dimorphism in diet and head dimensions is not greater on smaller islands, in contrast to our predictions.
Data from: Female investment in offspring size and number shifts seasonally in a lizard with single-egg clutches
The timing of reproduction strongly influences reproductive success in many organisms. For species with extended reproductive seasons, the quality of the environment may change throughout the season in ways that impact offspring survival, and, accordingly, aspects of reproductive strategies may shift to maximize fitness. Life-history theory predicts that if offspring environments deteriorate through the season, females should shift from producing more, smaller offspring early in the season to fewer, higher quality offspring later in the season. We leverage multiple iterations of anole breeding colonies, which control for temperature, moisture, and food availability, to identify seasonal changes in reproduction. These breeding colonies varied only by the capture date of the adult animals from the field. We show that seasonal cohorts exhibit variation in key reproductive traits such as inter-clutch interval, egg size and hatchling size consistent with seasonal shifts in reproductive effort. Overall, reproductive effort was highest early in the season due to a relatively high rate of egg production. Later season cohorts produced fewer, but larger offspring We infer that these results indicate a strategy for differential allocation of resources through the season. Females maximize offspring quantity when environments are favorable, and maximize offspring quality when environments are poor for those offspring. Our study also highlights that subtle differences in methodology (such as capture date of study animals) may influence the interpretation of results. Researchers interested in reproduction must be conscious of how their organism's reproductive patterns may shift through the season when designing experiments or comparing results across studies.
Data from: Predatory lizards perceive plant-derived volatile odorants
Many lizards are olfactory foragers and prey upon herbivorous arthropods, yet their responses to common herbivore‐associated plant volatiles remain unknown. As such, their role in mediating plant indirect defenses also remains largely obscured. In this paper, we use a cotton‐swab odor presentation assay to ask whether lizards respond to two arthropod‐associated plant‐derived volatile compounds: 2‐(E)‐hexenal and hexanoic acid. We studied the response of two lizard species, Sceloporus virgatusand Aspidoscelis exsanguis, because they differ substantially in their foraging behavior. We found that the actively foraging A. exsanguisresponded strongly to hexanoic acid, whereas the ambush foraging S. virgatus responded to 2‐(E)‐hexenal—an herbivore‐associated plant volatile involved in indirect defense against herbivores. These findings indicate that S. virgatus may contribute to plant indirect defense and that a species' response to specific odorants is linked with foraging mode. Future studies can elucidate how lizards use various compounds to locate prey and how these responses impact plant‐herbivore interactions.
Evolutionary history of Neotropical savannas geographically concentrates species, phylogenetic and functional diversity of lizards
<p>Supporting information (scripts) to compute diversity and endemism indices copied and available by Dan Rosauer (https ://github.com/DanRosauer/phylospatial).</p> <p>Aim: Understanding where and why species diversity is geographically concentrated remains a challenge in biogeography and macroevolution. This is true for the Cerrado, the most biodiverse tropical savanna in the world, which has experienced profound biodiversity loss. Previous studies have focused on a single metric (species composition), neglecting the fact that 'species' within the biome are often composed of cryptic species. In order to identify biodiversity hotspots more robustly and across multiple dimensions we integrate functional, spatial and new phylogeographic data for the Cerrado lizard fauna by (a) mapping the spatial patterns of species and phylogenetic diversity; and (b) using endemism measures to identify areas of unique diversity. We then quantify the extent to which existing protected areas represent the diversity.</p> <p>Location: Brazilian savanna (Cerrado).</p> <p>Methods: We generated species distribution models using distribution records for all Cerrado lizard species. These, combined with mitochondrial DNA phylogenies and natural history data, allowed us to map species richness, phylogenetic and functional diversity and phylogenetic and weighted endemism. Phylogenetic endemism maps were then cross-referenced against protected areas to calculate the amount of evolutionary history preserved within these areas.</p> <p>Results: The central region of the Cerrado, a vast and climatically stable plateau, stands out as important under all biodiversity metrics. Including evolutionary relationships in biodiversity assessment, we detected four regional hotspots with high concentration of spatially restricted evolutionary diversity. Protected areas cover only 10% of the Cerrado area and hold 11.64% of the summed phylogenetic endemism of all lizards in the biome.</p> <p>Main Conclusions: We highlighted both stable (Chapada dos Veadeiros and Serra do Espinhaço plateaus) and environmentally heterogenous regions (Araguaia and Tocantins valleys) as hotspots of evolutionary diversity. The creation and/or manipulation of areas for conservation are essential for the conservation and survival of the rich and endemic lizard fauna of the Cerrado.</p>
Figure 4 in Microhabitat selection of the poorly known lizard Tropidurus lagunablanca (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in the Pantanal, Brazil
Figure 4. Result of the mixed Conditional Logistic Regression model for the presence of Tropidurus lagunablanca as a function of predictor variables: substrate temperature, in ℃ (A) and diameter at breast height (DBH, in cm) of the trees (B). The solid line represents the probability predicted by the model and the dashed lines represent the respective confidence intervals. The circles are the observed values measured in the points of presence (used microhabitats) and availability (the four respective unused microhabitats paired to each used one). As we included the ID of the observation (one ID for one used site, plus the correspondent four available microhabitats) in the model as a random factor, we colored the circles in the plot by ID, so one can have an idea of what used value corresponds to each available value. Please note that the location of the circles was vertically jittered to enhance visualization, but all points of availability correspond to the exact same probability of 0 and all points of presence correspond to the exact same probability of 1.
Figure 3 in Microhabitat selection of the poorly known lizard Tropidurus lagunablanca (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in the Pantanal, Brazil
Figure 3. Substrate temperatures (Ts) of the sites where Tropidurus lagunablanca were observed along daily activity period (local time) at the Base de Estudos do Pantanal, Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Figure 1 in Microhabitat selection of the poorly known lizard Tropidurus lagunablanca (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in the Pantanal, Brazil
Figure 1. Adult individual of Tropidurus lagunablanca, Base de Estudos do Pantanal, Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Figure 2 in Microhabitat selection of the poorly known lizard Tropidurus lagunablanca (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in the Pantanal, Brazil
Figure 2. Hypotheses on the microhabitat selection of Tropidurus lagunablanca in Pantanal, Brazil. H1: T. lagunablanca individuals would choose trees with thermally suitable conditions for thermoregulation; H2:T. lagunablanca individuals would choose thicker trees, which offer more trophic and shelter resources.
Data from: Sexual dimorphism, phenotypic integration, and the evolution of head structure in casque-headed lizards
Sexes can differ in features associated with differential reproduction, which can be used during courtship or aggressive encounters. Some traits tend to evolve independently between sexes and emerge as sexually dimorphic within the organismal phenotype. We characterize such a relationship by estimating the phenotypic integration of the head morphology and modularity of the crest in the casque-headed lizards (Corytophanidae). In this clade, some species show extreme sexual dimorphism (e.g., head crests in the genus Basiliscus) while in others, both sexes are monomorphic. To characterize these patterns, we define phenotypic integration at the interspecific level as a pattern or network of traits evidenced by phylogenetically adjusted correlations that persist among species. At this level, modularity is an increased connectedness (e.g., higher correlation) among sections of these networks that persist in a lineage during the evolution of complex phenotypes. To test both concepts, we used phylogenetic geomorphometrics to characterize the head structure of corytophanid lizards, based on a time-calibrated phylogeny that includes candidate fossil ancestors. We found evidence of an older diversification of corytophanids than previously reported (~67 vs. ~23.5 MYA) and show that this clade includes two morphological head architectures: (1) Sexually dimorphic crests present in males that are evolving independently from the rest of the head structure, and (2) full integration of the head morphology in monomorphic species. We propose that both architectures are optimal evolutionary trajectories of the parietal crest bones in the head of these lizards. In sexually dimorphic species, these bones are elongated and thinner, and gave rise to the extended crest used in male courtship displays. In monomorphic species, the parietal crest grew thicker in both sexes to allow for a better insertion of muscles associated with a stronger bite.
Figure S7 in Unusual morphology in the mid-Cretaceous lizard Oculudentavis
Figure S7. Postcranial elements of Oculudentavis naga. Related to Figures 1, 2. Cervical vertebrae, right lateral view of cervical column (A) and right lateral view of atlas-axis (B), pectoral girdle (C–E), close up of the cervical column showing the intercentra in left lateral (F), and ventral (G) views.
Figure 2 in Unusual morphology in the mid-Cretaceous lizard Oculudentavis
Figure 2. Comparison of the two specimens of Oculudentavis, each bone digitally segmented Synchrotron HRCT of O. naga (A–J) and O. khaungraae (K–T). (Aand K) Anterior view, (B and L) posterior view, (C, M, I, and S) dorsal view, (D, N, J, and T) ventral view, (E and O) left lateral view, (F, G, P, and Q) right lateral view, and (H and R) medial view are shown. See also Figures S1–S7 and Data S1.
Figure S6 in Unusual morphology in the mid-Cretaceous lizard Oculudentavis
Figure S6. Segmented jaws. Related to Figures 1, 2. Oculudentavis naga (A–B), O. khaungraae (C–D). Lingual (A, C) and labial (B, D) views of the right ramus
Figure S5 in Unusual morphology in the mid-Cretaceous lizard Oculudentavis Highlights
Figure S5. Segmented braincase. Related to Figures 1, 2. Oculudentavis naga (A– E), O. khaungraae (F–J). Dorsal (A, F), posterior (B, G), anterior (C, H), lateral right side (D, I), and ventral (E, J) views.
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