Extreme spatial confinement and high site fidelity in a crevice-dwelling lizard with a minimal home range.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Body size has traditionally been regarded as a key predictor of home-range extent. However, it remains unclear whether habitat specialisation can alter the expected allometric relationship between body size and home range. Crevice-dwelling lizards of the genus Xenosaurus provide an excellent system for addressing this question due to their extremely restricted habitat use. Using Bayesian generalised linear models-which allow explicit comparison of alternative hypotheses-we focused on (I) characterising the spatial behaviour of X. platyceps, (II) testing whether the home range of X. platyceps deviates from allometric expectations within a comparative dataset of 100 lizard species, and (III) evaluating whether the thermal environment helps explain its reduced movement.

SUBMITTER: Rojas-Gonzalez RI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12805705 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature