Running in a cold weather: Morphology, thermal biology and performance in lizards the Liolaemus lineomaculatus section (Squamata: Iguania: Liolaemini), the southernmost clade of lizards of the world.

M. F. BONINO; D. L. MORENO AZOCAR; M. J. TULLI; C. S. ABDALA; M. G. PEROTTI; F. B. CRUZ

JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART A-ECOLOGICAL GENETICS AND PHYSIOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2011 p. 495 - 503

1932-5223

The integration or coadaptation of morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits isrepresented by whole-organism performance traits such as locomotion or bite force. Additionally,maximum sprint speed is a good indicator of whole-organism performance capacity as variation insprinting ability can affect survival. We studied thermal biology, morphology, and locomotorperformance in a clade of Liolaemus lizards that occurs in the Patagonian steppe and plateaus, atype of habitat characterized by its harsh cold climate. Liolaemus of the lineomaculatus sectiondisplay a complex mixture of conservative and flexible traits. The phylogenetically informedanalyses of these ten Liolaemus species show little coevolution of their thermal traits (onlypreferred and optimum temperatures were correlated). With regard to performance, maximumspeed was positively correlated with optimum temperature. Body size and morphology influencedlocomotor performance. Hindlimbs are key for maximal speed, but forelimb length was a betterpredictor for sustained speed (i.e. average speed over a total distance of 1.2 m). Finally, sustainedspeed differed among species with different diets, with herbivores running on average faster over along distance than omnivores.