Comparative myology of the forelimb of Liolaemus sand lizard (Liolaemidae)

VIRGINIA SARA LUZ ABDALA; MORO, SILVIA

ACTA ZOOLOGICA STOCKHOLM

Blackwell Publishing

Lugar: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters; Año: 2006 vol. 87 p. 1 - 12

The lizard genus Liolaemus includes numerous constituent clusters of putatively related taxa, one of which is the L. boulengeri group, which in turn includes the sand lizards. Members of the sand lizard group exhibit three different modes of burying into sand. The general morphology of the forelimb muscles of those Liolaemus species is analysed.    Herein we present a study of the forelimb musculature of all species considered by Halloy et al. (1998). This study has three principal goals. First, we are seeking morphological characters that will be useful in formulating phylogenetic hypotheses about the species of Liolaemus. We these characters, we also wish to compile morphological data that represent the morphological space implied in the diverse locomotor behaviours of these animals. Second, we are looking for derived features that reflect functional changes in the use of the forelimb. Third, we wish to provide a cladistic analysis that can be used to test phylogenetic hypotheses derived from other sources of data. We present 48 characters in a data set and analysed it cladistically. We obtained a hypothesis of the relationships of the Liolaemus species and compared this with previous hypothesis based on other characters. The trees obtained are not congruent with previously proposed phylogenies. We were unable to identify in our trees nodes that are based on structures reflecting functional changes in the use of the forelimb. The morphological similarities in the forelimb musculature of all species analysed seems to conform a very conservative general anatomical pattern with which Liolaemus sand lizards perform most of their locomotor behaviours.