Ecological specialization, rather than the island effect, explains morphological diversification in an ancient radiation of geckos.

ABSTRACT: Island colonists are often assumed to experience higher levels of phenotypic diversification than continental taxa. However, empirical evidence has uncovered exceptions to this 'island effect'. Here, we tested this pattern using the geckos of the genus Pristurus from continental Arabia and Africa and the Socotra Archipelago. Using a recently published phylogeny and an extensive morphological dataset, we explore the differences in phenotypic evolution between Socotran and continental taxa. Moreover, we reconstructed ancestral habitat occupancy to examine if ecological specialization is correlated with morphological change, comparing phenotypic disparity and trait evolution between habitats. We found a heterogeneous outcome of island colonization. Namely, only one of the three coloniz

SUBMITTER: Tejero-Cicuendez H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8692960 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature