Experimental study of dispersal behaviour in a wall lizard species (Podarcis sicula) (Sauria Lacertidae)

Abstract

""Chemical communication is known to be of great importance in animals,. particularly in the dynamic processes involving social behaviours and spatial orientation.. Yet in many animal species exhibiting social behaviours, the mechanisms at. the base of interindividual recognition and spatial orientation are virtually unknown.. We addressed this issue in a series of laboratory experiments using Salamandrina. perspicillata, an Italian endemic salamander, by means of Y-maze test. Individuals. did not discriminate between the soil from the site of capture and other substrates.. Salamanders were able to recognise their own chemical cue by selecting the arm. housing the paper soaked in their body secretions, so demonstrating their capacity for. following a trail of their own chemical cues. No interindividual (either homosexual or. heterosexual) attraction was observed. Therefore, substrate-borne chemical cues produced. by conspecifics of S. perspicillata seem to have no sociosexual significance for. individuals from their own populations. Our results show a clear influence of chemical. cues on individual behaviour in S. perspicillata. Although our data reveal such a. behavioural trait, no evidence of gregariousness was found in the tested population."

Evolutionary history of the Maltese wall lizard Podarcis filfolensis: insights on the ‘Expansion–Contraction’ model of Pleistocene biogeography

“…Vignoli et al . ), in the case of P. filfolensis, it is hard to believe that while females carrying Gozitan haplotypes would have moved only a few kilometres (approximately 20 km, cf. samples 14–15 in NE Malta) during a hundred thousand years, during the same period males have been extensively carrying nuclear alleles between the Gozitan and the Maltese compartments.…”

Congruent signals of population history but radically different patterns of genetic diversity between mitochondrial and nuclear markers in a mountain lizard

“…It is well known that effective population size of mtDNA is four times lower than nuclear loci, but differences in dispersal rate between mtDNA (femalemediated only) and nuclear DNA (subject to femaleand male-mediated dispersal) are undocumented in the genus Iberolacerta. However, most studies investigating sex-biased dispersal in Squamates report that males disperse more than females (Anolis: Johansson et al (2008); Boa: Rivera et al (2008); Chlamydosaurus: Ujvari et al (2008); Egernia: Chapple & Keogh (2005) and Stow et al (2001); Eulamprus: Dubey & Shine (2010); Lacerta: Olsson et al (1996); Podarcis: Vignoli et al (2012); Sceloporus: Massot et al (2003); Stegonotus: Dubey et al (2008); Uta: Doughty & Sinervo (1994); Zootoca: Clobert et al (1994), with a single publication reporting female-based dispersal in a mountain Australian skink [Niveoscincus: Olsson & Shine (2003)] and another study documenting location-dependent sex bias in sea snakes of the genus Laticauda (Lane & Shine 2011). It is thus likely that male dispersal is stronger than female dispersal in the Pyrenean rock lizard, further increasing nuclear gene flow compared with mitochondrial gene flow.…”

Patterns, Mechanisms and Genetics of Speciation in Reptiles and Amphibians

“…In addition to their differences in color, morphs differ in one or more aspects of reproductive behavior in numerous species, including members of the families Phrynosomatidae [154,155,156,157], Lacertidae [158,159,160], and Agamidae [161,162]. The males of different color morphs may vary in aggression, dispersal, physiological performance, territoriality, and/or mate choice [150,154,156,159,161,163,164,165,166].…”