The role of chemoreception in the iguanid lizard Sceloporus jarrovi

Simon, Carol A.; Gravelle, Karen; Bissinger, Barbara E.; Eiss, Israel; Ruibal, Rodolfo

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(81)80150-9

Cited by 48 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Our findings differ from these studies in that lizards sympatric with a snake predator exhibit fewer tongue flicks to the snake chemicals than those allopatric with the snake. On the other hand, our results are similar to those of several studies that showed either the absence of differences in tongue flick responses between predator and control stimuli (Simon et al, 1981;Weldon et al, 1990;Phillips and Alberts, 1992) or lower responses to predator chemicals than to other stimuli (Chiszar et al, 1978;Dial et al, 1989). Attempts to obtain information by tongue flicking may change throughout testing if the testing duration is long.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Geographic Differences in Behavioral Responses of Hatchling Lizards (<i>Eumeces okadae</i>) to Snake-predator Chemicals

Mori

Hasegawa

1999

Jpn.J.Herpetol.

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Antipredator and tongue flicking responses of hatchlings of Eumeces okadae were compared between Kozu-shima Island, where they co-occur with snake predators, and Hachijo-kojima, a snake-free island. In Experiment 1 lizards from both islands showed higher tongue flick rates to cotton swabs bearing snake and prey chemicals than to controls. Lizards from Hachijo-kojima emitted more tongue flicks to snake chemicals than those from Kozu-shima. In Experiment 2 lizards from Hachijokojima showed higher tongue flick rates to cotton swabs bearing non-saurophagous, allopatric snake chemicals than to control stimuli. Lizards from Kozu-shima exhibited tail wave display, which may deflect attacks to the autotomous tail, more frequently to saurophagous snake chemicals than to non-saurophagous snake and control stimuli, but there were no significant differences in tongue flick rates among the three chemicals for these lizards. In Experiment 3 lizards were introduced into an unfamiliar terrarium treated with snake chemicals. Lizards from Hachijo-kojima emitted more tongue flicks in cages chemically labelled by snakes than in control cages. No significant differences were observed in tongue flick rates between snake labelled and control cages in Kozu-shima lizards, and their tongue flick rates in snake labelled cages were significantly lower than those of Hachijo-kojima lizards. There were no differences in the frequency of tail waves, wall-climbing, movements, or immobility between snake labelled and control cages in lizards from both islands. Based on the higher tail wave frequency and lower tongue flick rates in Kozu-shima lizards than in Hachijo-kojima lizards, we hypothesize that lizards from Kozu-shima have evolved the ability to recognize chemical cues from snake predators after a few tongue flicks and that the higher tongue flick rates by lizards from Hachijo-kojima indicate less efficient recognition or lack of recognition of predator chemicals.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Geographic Differences in Behavioral Responses of Hatchling Lizards (<i>Eumeces okadae</i>) to Snake-predator Chemicals

Mori

Hasegawa

1999

Jpn.J.Herpetol.

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“…Insectivorous lizards, such as phrynosomatids, use ambush hunting tactics and tongue flicking is not common during foraging (reviewed in Cooper 1995). Tongue‐flick is associated with locomotion for several phrynosomatid species, and tongue‐flick behavior increased in novel situations in a laboratory study Sceloporus jarrovii (Simon et al. 1981).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative Association Between Conspicuous Visual Display and Chemosensory Behavior in Two Phrynosomatid Lizards

Hews

Benard

2001

Ethology

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Communication in one sensory modality can influence communication in others. Lizards in many phrynosomatid species use primarily visual but also chemical signals. The striped plateau lizard, Sceloporus virgatus, exhibits evolutionary loss of a male color signal that in many species is used during aggressive postural displays towards conspecific males. These patches are used similarly in Urosaurus, the sister genus to Sceloporus. We compared a species in which a color signal has been lost, S. virgatus, to a species retaining the ancestral character state of blue abdominal display patches, Urosaurus ornatus, the common tree lizard, to test two hypotheses: (i) conspicuous postural displays that reveal the abdominal patch location are used less in the species that has lost the color patches; and (ii) potential chemical signals are used more in the species with the color loss. We analyzed both visual display behavior (push‐up, full‐show) and chemosensory behavior (tongue flick and nose tap) of male lizards following their introduction to a resident conspecific male in his home terrarium. Resident males performed very low rates of all behaviors, but intruders exhibited sufficient behavior for analysis. Supporting the first hypothesis, S. virgatus were less likely than U. ornatus to perform full‐show, a display that reveals abdominal skin. Male S. virgatus were more likely to perform push‐up than U. ornatus, although S. virgatus performed push‐up infrequently. Push‐up is a postural display that does not specifically reveal the abdominal patch location. Supporting the second hypothesis, S. virgatus were more likely to perform chemosensory behaviors and performed them at a greater rate than did U. ornatus. Work comparing more closely related species is warranted to determine whether a negative association between conspicuous visual displays and chemosensory behavior is a general pattern.

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“…Tongue extrusions, such as flicks or touches, can be used in the detection of conspecifics (Cooper and Vitt, 1984;Simon, 1985), kin recognition (Werner et al, 1987), sex recognition and courtship (Cooper and Vitt, 1984;Cooper et al, 1986), general exploration (Bissinger and Simon, 1979;Simon et al, 1981), predator detection (Thoen et al, 1986;Van Damme et al, 1990), and food detection and discrimination (see Schwenk, 1993;Cooper 1994bCooper ,c, 1995a. However, tongue flicking in foraging and feeding behaviour differs dramatically among major lizard taxa and may be affected by foraging ecology (sit and wait vs. active foragers; see Cooper 1989Cooper , 1990aCooper ,b, 1997.…”

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confidence: 99%

Tongue flicking in agamid lizards: Morphology, kinematics, and muscle activity patterns

1998

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We wanted to examine whether a relation between foraging strategy, morphology, the mechanics of tongue protrusion, and prey chemical detection and discrimination exists in agamid lizards. Tongue-flick behavior was observed in two species of this family: Uromastix acanthinurus and Plocederma stellio. Potential prey chemical discrimination by means of tongue flicking was examined by using applicator tests. Tongue flicks were subsequently recorded by high-speed video in combination with the electrical activity of a number of jaw and hyolingual muscles. The kinematics of jaws and tongue and the muscle activity patterns were quantified. To investigate if the observed differences in tongue-flick behavior (mainly in the frequency of use) are translated into corresponding differences in tongue morphology, the tongues of both species were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The species differed mainly in the surface morphology of the foretongue and in the abundance and distribution of taste buds on the tongue and oral cavity. These differences can be related to behavioural observations; whereas U. acanthinurus readily uses tongue flicks to detect and discriminate between food items, P. stellio does not. However, differences in tongue-flick mechanics (kinematics, electromyograms) between both species were minor. Based on the data gathered in this study and from previously published data, an evolutionary transformation series leading to the complex tongue-flick cycles as observed in snakes is proposed. The required morphological and mechanical changes that accompany such an evolutionary sequence are discussed.

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The role of chemoreception in the iguanid lizard Sceloporus jarrovi

Cited by 48 publications

References 16 publications

Geographic Differences in Behavioral Responses of Hatchling Lizards (<i>Eumeces okadae</i>) to Snake-predator Chemicals

Geographic Differences in Behavioral Responses of Hatchling Lizards (<i>Eumeces okadae</i>) to Snake-predator Chemicals

Negative Association Between Conspicuous Visual Display and Chemosensory Behavior in Two Phrynosomatid Lizards

Tongue flicking in agamid lizards: Morphology, kinematics, and muscle activity patterns

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