Sexual size dimorphism, allometry and fecundity in a lineage of South American viviparous lizards (Liolaemidae: Phymaturus)

Valdecantos, Soledad; Lobo, Fernando; Perotti, María Gabriela; Azócar, Débora Lina Moreno; Cruz, Félix Benjamín

doi:10.1016/j.jcz.2019.02.003

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Consistent with the prediction, our results demonstrated the existence of an isometric relationship between male and female sizes in viviparous species, or even a slope shallower than 1. Valdecantos et al (2019) found a similar pattern (slope ≈ 1) in a clade of viviparous South American lizards (Phymaturus). A similar pattern is apparent in Chinese viviparous lizards (Liang et al 2021), and, at the intraspecific level, in Zootoca vivipara (Roitberg et al 2020).…”

Section: Reproductive Mode Can Influence Life History Traits In Reptilesmentioning

confidence: 53%

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Sexual size dimorphism in lizards: Rensch's rule, reproductive mode, clutch size, and line fitting method effects

2021

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Rensch's rule relates to a pattern whereby sexual size dimorphism is more female‐biased in small‐sized species and more male‐biased in large‐sized ones. We collected literature and museum data on the body size of males and females belonging to 4032 lizard species, as well as data on their reproductive modes and clutch sizes. We used phylogenetic comparative analyses, and general linear mixed models, to test Rensch's rule and examined how reproductive mode and clutch size affect sexual size dimorphism. Sexual size dimorphism was independent of clutch size in lizard species with variable clutch sizes and in oviparous lizards. Large litters were associated with female‐biased sexual dimorphism in viviparous and in scincomorph lizards. Inference regarding Rensch's rule depended on the analytical method used to identify it. The widely used, but less conservative, reduced major axis regression usually support Rensch's rule while ordinary least squares regressions mostly show isometric relationships. The rule tended to apply more to oviparous than to viviparous lizards. We infer that Rensch's rule is, at best, a weak pattern in lizards. This is especially true in viviparous lineages where females reproduce infrequently and therefore evolve large sizes to maximise fecundity, resulting in female‐biased dimorphism.

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Section: Reproductive Mode Can Influence Life History Traits In Reptilesmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…In lizards, studies of Rensch's rule have mostly been carried out on closely related species (e.g. at the familyscale; Cox et al 2007;Frýdlová & Frynta 2015;Valdecantos et al 2019;Liang et al 2021) or at the intraspecific level (e.g. Zhao et al 2016;Liang & Shi 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual size dimorphism in lizards: Rensch's rule, reproductive mode, clutch size, and line fitting method effects

2021

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“…Sexual dimorphism in body size has been reported in several species of whiptails, such as A. tigris (Anderson & Vitt, 1990), A. costatus (Aguilar‐Moreno et al, 2010), A. lineattissimus (Hernández‐Salinas, Ramírez‐Bautista, Pavón, & Rosas Pacheco, 2014) and A. gularis (Pérez‐Almazán, Manríquez‐Morán, Balderas‐Plata, Antonio‐Némiga, & López‐Alcaide, 2017). Sexual dimorphism has commonly been related to sexual selection (Anderson & Vitt, 1990; Olsson, Shine, Wapstra, Ujvari, & Madsen, 2002) and fertility (Aguilar‐Moreno et al, 2010; Olsson et al, 2002; Valdecantos, Lobo, Perotti, Moreno‐Azócar, & Cruz, 2019) in squamates. Snout–vent length seems to be related to sexual selection in Aspidoscelis costatus (Aguilar‐Moreno et al, 2010), while axilla–groin distance has been associated with fecundity in A. gularis and A. costatus (Aguilar‐Moreno et al, 2010; Pérez‐Almazán et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological variation and sexual dimorphism in the Aspidoscelis gularis complex (Squamata: Teiidae) from Mexico

2020

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Morphological variation can be promoted by ecological factors and the evolutionary history of the taxa. The Aspidoscelis gularis complex is one of the groups of whiptail lizards that exhibits one of the widest distributions in North America, occupying a great variety of environments. Its members are similar in morphology, which has contributed to the taxonomic uncertainty in the group. In this study, variation in size and head shape was analysed considering a phylogenetic hypothesis based on the Cytb and ND2 mitochondrial genes. Six evolutionarily significant units were found, of which the morphological patterns were analysed. Eleven morphological characters and two landmark configurations of the head were used. Analysis of size revealed a pattern of sexual dimorphism, while geometric morphometrics suggested that there is no dimorphism in head shape. Neither size nor shape shows unique patterns of morphological variation between the evolutionarily significant units, which could be attributed to morphological conservatism and recurrent hybridization in whiptails.

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“…For Thamnophiini, the standard outcome of fecundity selection demonstrates that selection for larger female gapes and larger or longer body sizes translates into increased numbers of offspring (Braña & Brana, 1996;Darwin, 1871;Olsson, Shine, Wapstra, Ujvari, & Madsen, 2002;Valdecantos, Lobo, Perotti, Moreno Azócar, & Cruz, 2019). Likely, sexual dimorphism in Thamnophiini is the result of sexual selection on gape and diet for enhanced energy expenditure needed to increased fecundity and neonate size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female‐biased gape and body‐size dimorphism in the New World watersnakes (tribe: Thamnophiini) oppose predictions from Rensch's rule

Burbrink

Futterman

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Sexual‐size dimorphism (SSD) is ubiquitous across animals and often biased in the direction of larger females in snakes and other ectothermic organisms. To understand how SSD evolves across species, Rensch's rule predicts that in taxa where males are larger, SSD increases with body size. In contrast, where females are larger, SSD decreases with body size. While this rule holds for many taxa, it may be ambiguous for others, particularly ectothermic vertebrates. Importantly, this rule suggests that the outcomes of SSD over phylogenetic time scales depend on the direction of dimorphism predicated on the difference in reproductive efforts between males and females. Here, we examine SSD in the context of Rensch's rule in Thamnophiini, the gartersnakes and watersnakes, a prominent group that in many areas comprises the majority of the North American snake biota. Using a dated phylogeny, measurements of gape, body, and tail size, we show that these snakes do not follow Rensch's rule, but rather female‐biased SSD increases with body size. We in turn find that this allometry is most pronounced with gape and is correlated with both neonate and litter size, suggesting that acquiring prey of increased size may be directly related to fecundity selection. These changes in SSD are not constrained to any particular clade; we find no evidence of phylogenetic shifts in those traits showing SSD. We suggest several ways forward to better understand the anatomical units of selection for SSD and modularity. Open Research Badges This article has been awarded Open Data and Open Materials Badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3pn57h0.

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Sexual size dimorphism, allometry and fecundity in a lineage of South American viviparous lizards (Liolaemidae: Phymaturus)

Cited by 10 publications

References 73 publications

Sexual size dimorphism in lizards: Rensch's rule, reproductive mode, clutch size, and line fitting method effects

Sexual size dimorphism in lizards: Rensch's rule, reproductive mode, clutch size, and line fitting method effects

Morphological variation and sexual dimorphism in the Aspidoscelis gularis complex (Squamata: Teiidae) from Mexico

Female‐biased gape and body‐size dimorphism in the New World watersnakes (tribe: Thamnophiini) oppose predictions from Rensch's rule

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