Open AccessFossil lizard from central E urope resolves the origin of large body size and herbivory in giant C anary I sland lacertids
Author(s) -
Čerňanský Andrej,
Klembara Jozef,
Smith Krister T.
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.12340
Subject(s) - lacertidae , biology , lizard , ecology , clade , herbivore , taxon , late miocene , lineage (genetic) , paleontology , zoology , sauria , phylogenetics , biochemistry , structural basin , gene
The endemic C anary I sland lizard clade G allotia , which includes the largest members of Europe's dominant reptile group, Lacertidae, is one of the classic examples of insular gigantism. For the first time we use fossil data to test the evolutionary reasons for the association between gigantism and herbivory. We describe an almost completely preserved skeleton of Janosikia ulmensis comb. nov. from the early Miocene of Ulm, G ermany ( MN 2a, ∼ 22 Mya). We show that this species and Oligocene P seudeumeces cadurcensis (Filhol, 1877) are in fact crown lacertids, and the first known pre‐Quaternary record of the total clade of G allotia . P seudeumeces confirms the early origin of crown Lacertidae in the P alaeogene of E urope. More importantly, these fossil taxa show that large body size was already achieved on the European mainland by the early M iocene. Furthermore, P seudeumeces and J anosikia were faunivorous, thus demonstrating that insularity, not large body size, was crucial to the evolution of herbivory in this lineage. Body size change in G allotia was more complex than previously thought, encompassing size increase [e.g. in the extinct G allotia goliath (Mertens, 1942)], but more commonly involving miniaturization. The physical environment may play a crucial role in modulating the evolution of body size in this natural laboratory.