Adaptive or non-adaptive? Cranial evolution in a radiation of miniaturized day geckos.

ABSTRACT: Lygodactylus geckos represent a well-documented radiation of miniaturized lizards with diverse life-history traits that are widely distributed in Africa, Madagascar, and South America. The group has diversified into numerous species with high levels of morphological similarity. The evolutionary processes underlying such diversification remain enigmatic, because species live in different ecological biomes, ecoregions and microhabitats, while suggesting strikingly high levels of homoplasy. To underscore this evolutionary pattern, here we explore the shape variation of skull elements (i.e., cranium, jaw and inner ear) using 3D geometric morphometrics and phylogenetic comparative methods on computed tomography scans (CT-scan) of a sample encompassing almost all recognized taxa within Lygodacty

SUBMITTER: Lobon-Rovira J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11673686 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature