Basking behaviour in two sympatric herbivorous lizards (Liolaemidae: Phymaturus) from the Payunia volcanic region of Argentina

CORBALÁN, V.; DEBANDI, G.

JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 47 p. 1365 - 1378

0022-2933

We studied several aspects of the thermal biology of two coexisting saxicolous species of the genus Phymaturus (Liolaemidae) at the Payunia, a volcanic region in Argentina where harsh conditions prevail. We marked individuals in grids and we assessed the environmental conditions when the individuals showed their maximum activity (i.e. when more than 50% of marked individuals were active), the time spent basking, and the postural behaviour in relation to different cloudiness conditions. We found that temperatures recorded when the species exhibit their peaks of activity was higher for P. payuniae, the smaller species, during summer at one of the three studied sites. Phymaturus roigorum exhibited the longest basking periods, but during these longer periods cloudy conditions prevailed. Both species adopted a head-up posture when conditions were sunny and a head-down posture when under cloudy conditions. This is the first contribution where thermal aspects of two sympatric species of Phymaturus are evaluated.