Premium
Morphology of the adhesive tail tips of carphodactyline geckos (Reptilia: Diplodactylidae)
Author(s) -
Bauer Aaron M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4687(199801)235:1<41::aid-jmor4>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - prehensile tail , biology , morphology (biology) , anatomy , seta , gecko , phylogenetic tree , zoology , evolutionary biology , genus , biochemistry , gene
Members of the carphodactyline gekkonoid genera Naultinus, Hoplodactylus, Bavayia, Eurydactylodes, Rhacodactylus, and Pseudothecadactylus possess tails that are both prehensile and adhesive. In New Caledonian and Australian species of this group, the adhesive apparatus forms a discrete and grossly observable scansorial pad. The caudal scansorial system appears to show a phylogenetic trend towards increasing complexity. The caudal scansors closely parallel the subdigital scansors in surface morphology and bear branched setae and mechanoreceptive sensillae. Internal morphology also resembles that of the toe, although a tendinous system is absent and the mechanism of pressurization of the vascular network of the tail tip remains unclear. Despite obvious differences in basic organization of tails and toes, the caudal and digital scansors in these taxa appear to be iterative homologues of one another. J. Morphol. 235: 41–58, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.