Character displacement in some Cnemidophorus lizards revisited: a phylogenetic analysis.

ABSTRACT: Ecological studies have demonstrated the role of competition in structuring communities; however, the importance of competition as a vehicle for evolution by natural selection and speciation remains unresolved. Study systems of insular faunas have provided several well known cases where ecological character displacement, coevolution of competitors leading to increased morphological separation, is thought to have occurred (e.g., anoline lizards and geospizine finches). Whiptail lizards (genus Cnemidophorus) from the islands of the Sea of Cortez and the surrounding mainland demonstrate a biogeographic pattern of morphological variation suggestive of character displacement. Two species of Cnemidophorus occur on the Baja peninsula, one relatively large (Cnemidophorus tigris) and one smaller (C

SUBMITTER: Radtkey RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC23260 | biostudies-literature | 1997 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature