Thermal biology of Phymaturus lizards: Phylogenetic constraints or lack of environmental variation?

2. CRUZ F. B.; L. BELVER; J. C. ACOSTA; H. J. VILLAVICENCIO; G. BLANCO AND M. G. CÁNOVAS.

ZOOLOGY

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2009 vol. 112 p. 425 - 432

0944-2006

Several aspects of the biology of Phymaturus lizards including their herbivorous diet, specialized microhabitat use, and viviparous reproductive mode are highly conserved within the group. Here, we explore two aspects of Phymaturus thermal biology and test for the co-evolution among aspects of the thermal biology in these lizards, such as thermal preferenda and critical temperatures. Secondly, we explore correlations among variation in thermal biology withelevation and latitude. To do so, we used phylogenetically based comparative analyses (PCM) together with conventional statistics. Our results show that thermal biology for Phymaturus is conservative and our data do not suggest the co-evolution of thermal variables. Moreover, we detected low levels of variation in the thermal parameters studied, and no clear relationships between climatic and thermal variables. As a significant association between climatic and thermal variables could be demonstrated for a set of syntopic Liolaemus lizards, we suggest that thermalbiology in Phymaturus lizards may be evolutionarily or ecologically constrained.