The Island of Extremes: Giants and Dwarfs on a Small Remote Island

Autor:	Panayiotis Pafilis, Yuval Itescu, Petros Lymberakis, Rachel Schwarz, Johannes Foufopoulos, Shai Meiri, Alex Slavenko, Ioanna-Aikaterini Gavriilidi
Rok vydání:	2021
Předmět:	Natural selection biology Ecology Body size biology.organism_classification Podarcis erhardii Geography Sensu Genus Mediodactylus kotschyi Lacertidae Animal Science and Zoology Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Gekkonidae
Zdroj:	Russian Journal of Herpetology. 28:225-230
ISSN:	1026-2296
DOI:	10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-4-225-230
Popis:	Body size evolution on islands is widely studied and hotly debated. Gigantism and dwarfism are thought to evolve under strong natural selection, especially on small remote islands. We report a curious co-occurrence of both dwarf and giant lizards on the same small, remote island (Plakida): the largest Podarcis erhardii (Lacertidae) and smallest Mediodactylus kotschyi sensu lato; Gekkonidae — the two commonest insular reptiles in the Aegean Sea. The geckos of Plakida have a peculiar tail-waving behavior, documented here for the first time in this genus. We suspect that P. erhardii evolved large size to consume geckos and the geckos evolved a unique tail-waving behavior as a defensive mechanism.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_________::8f1aa1c2c4abe57efef09c5610ac557d https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-4-225-230 Zobrazit plný text záznamu