Open AccessPatterns of morphological diversification of mainland A nolis lizards from northwestern S outh A merica
Author(s) -
MorenoArias Rafael A.,
CalderónEspinosa Martha L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
zoological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1096-3642
pISSN - 0024-4082
DOI - 10.1111/zoj.12325
Subject(s) - adaptive radiation , anolis , biology , arboreal locomotion , mainland , ecomorphology , ecology , diversification (marketing strategy) , ecological niche , intertidal zone , convergent evolution , habitat , lizard , phylogenetics , biochemistry , business , marketing , gene
A nolis lizards are one of the most diverse vertebrate genera and are the classic example of adaptive radiation and convergent evolution. Anoles exhibit great morphological diversity produced by the ecological opportunity to exploit several arboreal niches. Anole radiation in the C aribbean islands is well studied, but the mainland radiation is less understood. We used a large morphological data set and a molecular phylogeny to describe the morphological diversification of anoles from northwestern S outh A merica, a region with the highest anole diversity on a mainland. We describe morphological diversity as summarized by ten morphotypes, defined mainly by body size, limb proportions, and subdigital lamellae. We show that some morphotypes are limited to forested lowlands and others to A ndean highlands; by contrast, A nolis assemblages from tropical rainforests are comprised of the same four morphotypes. We demonstrate that morphological diversification followed a pattern of adaptive radiation across a landscape of adaptive peaks. Our results are consistent with the most recent hypothesis of convergence stated for C aribbean radiation, and demonstrate convergence between mainland morphotypes and C aribbean ecomorphs, which suggests that common processes are driving both radiations. © 2016 The Linnean Society of London