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Cooper WE, Vitt LJ. Thermal Dependence of Tongue-flicking and Comments on Use of Tongue-flicking as an Index of Squamate Behavior. Ethology 2010. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1986.tb00582.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Cooper Jr WE, Caldwell JP, Vitt LJ. Risk Assessment and Withdrawal Behavior by Two Species of Aposematic Poison Frogs,Dendrobates auratusandOophaga pumilio, on Forest Trails. Ethology 2009. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2009.01615.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Huey RB, Deutsch CA, Tewksbury JJ, Vitt LJ, Hertz PE, Alvarez Pérez HJ, Garland T. Why tropical forest lizards are vulnerable to climate warming. Proc Biol Sci 2009; 276:1939-48. [PMID: 19324762 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 531] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological impacts of climate warming are predicted to increase with latitude, paralleling increases in warming. However, the magnitude of impacts depends not only on the degree of warming but also on the number of species at risk, their physiological sensitivity to warming and their options for behavioural and physiological compensation. Lizards are useful for evaluating risks of warming because their thermal biology is well studied. We conducted macrophysiological analyses of diurnal lizards from diverse latitudes plus focal species analyses of Puerto Rican Anolis and Sphaerodactyus. Although tropical lowland lizards live in environments that are warm all year, macrophysiological analyses indicate that some tropical lineages (thermoconformers that live in forests) are active at low body temperature and are intolerant of warm temperatures. Focal species analyses show that some tropical forest lizards were already experiencing stressful body temperatures in summer when studied several decades ago. Simulations suggest that warming will not only further depress their physiological performance in summer, but will also enable warm-adapted, open-habitat competitors and predators to invade forests. Forest lizards are key components of tropical ecosystems, but appear vulnerable to the cascading physiological and ecological effects of climate warming, even though rates of tropical warming may be relatively low.
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Costa GC, Mesquita DO, Colli GR, Vitt LJ. Niche expansion and the niche variation hypothesis: does the degree of individual variation increase in depauperate assemblages? Am Nat 2009; 172:868-77. [PMID: 18950275 DOI: 10.1086/592998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The niche expansion and niche variation hypotheses predict that release from interspecific competition will promote niche expansion in depauperate assemblages. Niche expansion can occur by different mechanisms, including an increase in within-individual, among-individual, or bimodal variation (sexual dimorphism). Here we explore whether populations with larger niche breadth have a higher degree of diet variation. We also test whether populations from depauperate lizard assemblages differ in dietary resource use with respect to variation within and/or among individuals and sexual dimorphism. We found support for the niche expansion and niche variation hypotheses. Populations in assemblages with low phylogenetic diversity had a higher degree of individual variation, suggesting a tendency for niche expansion. We also found evidence suggesting that the mechanism causing niche expansion is an increase in variation among individuals rather than an increase in within-individual variation or an increase in bimodal variation due to sexual dimorphism.
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Cooper WE, Caldwell JP, Vitt LJ. Effective Crypsis and Its Maintenance by Immobility in Craugastor Frogs. COPEIA 2008. [DOI: 10.1643/ce-07-056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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31
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Vitt LJ, Shepard DB, Vieira GHC, Caldwell JP, Colli GR, Mesquita DO. Ecology of Anolis Nitens Brasiliensis in Cerrado Woodlands of Cantão. COPEIA 2008. [DOI: 10.1643/cp-06-251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Gamble T, Simons AM, Colli GR, Vitt LJ. Tertiary climate change and the diversification of the Amazonian gecko genus Gonatodes (Sphaerodactylidae, Squamata). Mol Phylogenet Evol 2008; 46:269-77. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2007] [Revised: 08/02/2007] [Accepted: 08/19/2007] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Goldberg SR, Bursey CR, Caldwell JP, Vitt LJ, Costa GC. Gastrointestinal Helminths from Six Species of Frogs and Three Species of Lizards, Sympatric in Pará State, Brazil. COMP PARASITOL 2007. [DOI: 10.1654/4268.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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34
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Vitt LJ, Ávila-Pires TCS, Espósito MC, Sartorius SS, Zani PA. Ecology of Alopoglossus angulatus and A. atriventris (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) in western Amazonia. PHYLLOMEDUSA: JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY 2007. [DOI: 10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v6i1p11-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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Mesquita DO, Colli GR, Vitt LJ. Ecological release in lizard assemblages of neotropical savannas. Oecologia 2007; 153:185-95. [PMID: 17437128 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-007-0725-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2005] [Accepted: 03/08/2007] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
We compare lizard assemblages of Cerrado and Amazonian savannas to test the ecological release hypothesis, which predicts that niche dimensions and abundance should be greater in species inhabiting isolated habitat patches with low species richness (Amazonian savannas and isolated Cerrado patches) when compared with nonisolated areas in central Cerrado with greater species richness. We calculated microhabitat and diet niche breadths with data from 14 isolated Cerrado patches and Amazon savanna areas and six central Cerrado populations. Morphological data were compared using average Euclidean distances, and lizard abundance was estimated using the number of lizards captured in pitfall traps over an extended time period. We found no evidence of ecological release with respect to microhabitat use, suggesting that historical factors are better microhabitat predictors than ecological factors. However, data from individual stomachs indicate that ecological release occurs in these areas for one species (Tropidurus) but not others (Ameiva ameiva, Anolis, Cnemidophorus, and Micrablepharus), suggesting that evolutionary lineages respond differently to environmental pressures, with tropidurids being more affected by ecological factors than polychrotids, teiids, and gymnophthalmids. We found no evidence that ecological release occurs in these areas using morphological data. Based on abundance data, our results indicate that the ecological release (density compensation) hypothesis is not supported: lizard species are not more abundant in isolated areas than in nonisolated areas. The ecology of species is highly conservative, varying little from assemblage to assemblage. Nevertheless, increases in niche breadth for some species indicate that ecological release occurs as well.
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Bursey CR, Goldberg SR, Vitt LJ. NEW SPECIES OF RHABDIAS (NEMATODA: RHABDIASIDAE) AND OTHER HELMINTHS FROM NOROPS CAPITO (SAURIA: POLYCHROTIDAE) FROM NICARAGUA. J Parasitol 2007; 93:129-31. [PMID: 17436951 DOI: 10.1645/ge-887r.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae) from the lungs of Norops capito (Sauria: Polychrotidae) is described and illustrated. Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. represents the 54th species assigned to the genus and the 12th from the Neotropical realm. Of the 12 Neotropical Rhabdias species, nicaraguensis is most similar to tobagoensis and vellardi. These 3 species have equatorial placement of the vulva, inflated cuticle, and 6 small circumoral lips. Rhabdias nicaraguensis is easily separated from R. tobagoensis by the shape of the buccal cavity and from R. vellardi by body size and shape of the tail. Rhabdias nicaraguensis differs from both species by host preference, the amount of inflated cuticle covering the body, and the phasmids situated posterior to the midpoint of the tail.
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Goldberg SR, Bursey CR, Vitt LJ. Helminths of the Brown-eared anole, Norops fuscoauratus (Squamata, Polychrotidae), from Brazil and Ecuador, South America. PHYLLOMEDUSA: JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY 2006. [DOI: 10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v5i1p83-86] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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Bursey CR, Goldberg SR, Vitt LJ. New species of Oswaldocruzia (Nematoda: Molineidae) in Ameiva festiva (Squamata: Teiidae) from Nicaragua. J Parasitol 2006; 92:350-2. [PMID: 16729693 DOI: 10.1645/ge-3543.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensis n. sp. (Strongylida: Molineidae) from the intestines of Ameiva festiva (Sauria: Teiidae) is described and illustrated. Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensis represents the 78th species assigned to the genus and is most similar to the Caribbean species of the genus by possessing spicules in which each of the 3 divisions terminates in numerous fine points. Of the 8 species assigned to this group, O. nicaraguensis is most similar to Oswaldocruzia moraveci; of the 8 species, only O. moraveci and O. nicaraguensis possess a type II bursa and lack cervical alae. It is separated from O. moraveci by the position of the tips of ribs 5-6; close together in O. nicaraguensis, well separated in O. moraveci.
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Bursey CR, Goldberg SR, Vitt LJ. New species of Allopharynx (Digenea: Plagiorchiidae) and other helminths in Uranoscodon superciliosus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from Amazonian Brazil. J Parasitol 2006; 91:1395-8. [PMID: 16539022 DOI: 10.1645/ge-3478.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Allopharynx daileyi n. sp. (Digenea: Plagiorchiidae) from the small intestine of the tropidurid lizard Uranoscodon superciliosus from Amazonian Brazil is described and illustrated. Of the 11 currently recognized species of Allopharynx, we consider Allopharynx megorchis Simha, 1961 a synonym of Allopharynx mehrai (Gogate, 1935) Price 1938 and Allopharynx puertoricensis Acholonu, 1976 a synonym of Allopharynx riopedrensis Garcia-Diaz; thus, A. daileyi becomes the 10th species assigned to the genus. The trematode species Mesocoelium monas and 2 species of Nematoda, Africana chabaudi and Cosmocerca vrcibradici, were also present.
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Ramírez-Sandoval E, Ramírez-Bautista A, Vitt LJ. Reproduction in the Lizard Phyllodactylus lanei (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Pacific Coast of Mexico. COPEIA 2006. [DOI: 10.1643/0045-8511(2006)006[0001:ritlpl]2.0.co;2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Goldberg SR, Bursey CR, Vitt LJ. Parasites of two lizard species, Anolis punctatus and Anolis transversalis (Squamata: Polychrotidae) from Brazil and Ecuador. AMPHIBIA-REPTILIA 2006. [DOI: 10.1163/156853806778877068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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43
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Cooper WE, Vitt LJ, Caldwell JP, Fox SF. RELATIONSHIPS AMONG FORAGING VARIABLES, PHYLOGENY, AND FORAGING MODES, WITH NEW DATA FOR NINE NORTH AMERICAN LIZARD SPECIES. HERPETOLOGICA 2005. [DOI: 10.1655/04-82.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Vitt LJ, Pianka ER. Deep history impacts present-day ecology and biodiversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2005; 102:7877-81. [PMID: 15867150 PMCID: PMC1142370 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0501104102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2005] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Lizards and snakes putatively arose between the early Jurassic and late Triassic; they diversified worldwide and now occupy many different ecological niches, making them ideal for testing theories on the origin of ecological traits. We propose and test the "deep history hypothesis," which claims that differences in ecological traits among species arose early in evolutionary history of major clades, and that present-day assemblages are structured largely because of ancient, preexisting differences. We combine phylogenetic data with ecological data collected over nearly 40 years to reconstruct the evolution of dietary shifts in squamate reptiles. Data on diets of 184 lizard species in 12 families from 4 continents reveal significant dietary shifts at 6 major divergence points, reducing variation by 79.8%. The most striking dietary divergence (27.6%) occurred in the late Triassic, when Iguania and Scleroglossa split. These two clades occupy different regions of dietary niche space. Acquisition of chemical prey discrimination, jaw prehension, and wide foraging provided scleroglossans access to sedentary and hidden prey that are unavailable to iguanians. This cladogenic event may have profoundly influenced subsequent evolutionary history and diversification. We suggest the hypothesis that ancient events in squamate cladogenesis, rather than present-day competition, caused dietary shifts in major clades such that some lizard clades gained access to new resources, which in turn led to much of the biodiversity observed today.
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Vitt LJ, Sartorius SS, Avila-Pires TCS, Zani PA, Espósito MC. SMALL IN A BIG WORLD: ECOLOGY OF LEAF-LITTER GECKOS IN NEW WORLD TROPICAL FORESTS. HERPETOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS 2005. [DOI: 10.1655/0733-1347(2005)019[0137:siabwe]2.0.co;2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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46
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Vitt LJ. IGUANAS: BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION. COPEIA 2004. [DOI: 10.1643/ot-04-249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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48
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Caldwell JP, Vitt LJ. CHARLES C. CARPENTER. COPEIA 2004. [DOI: 10.1643/ot-04-104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Vitt LJ. Fangs, Venom, and Fear Unraveled. Science 2004. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1100050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere
. by Jonathan A. Campbell and William W. Lamar. Comstock (Cornell University Press), Ithaca, NY, 2004. 2 vols. 962 pp. $149.95, £86.95. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
This profusely illustrated, comprehensive survey of venomous snakes and lizards of the Americas also includes overviews of mimicry, evolution, and the medical management of snakebites.
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50
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Baird TA, Vitt LJ, Baird TD, Cooper, Jr. WE, Caldwell JP, Pérez-Mellado V. Social behavior and sexual dimorphism in the Bonaire whiptail, Cnemidophorus murinus (Squamata: Teiidae): the role of sexual selection. CAN J ZOOL 2003. [DOI: 10.1139/z03-178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
We measured body dimensions and coloration and quantified the behavior of females and males of two color phases in the Bonaire whiptail, Cnemidophorus murinus, to begin addressing the ultimate causation for sexual dimorphism in this species. Examination of size-adjusted body dimensions revealed that males have wider, longer, and deeper heads as well as somewhat longer forelegs and hind legs. Males were characterized by two distinct coloration patterns. Blue males displayed purple–blue dewlaps, blue–gray background coloration on the head and anterior torso, numerous light blue spots on the flanks, brown–orange coloration on the posterior torso, and a turquoise section on the proximal portion of the tail. By contrast, brown males were uniform olive–green to yellow–brown, with the exception of light blue spots on the lateral torso. Females were colored like brown males but lacked the blue spots. Testis length scaled with body size. Testes of only 26% of brown males were active, whereas all blue males had active testes. Blue males initiated aggressive encounters involving chases and displays directed toward other males much more frequently than females were aggressive with consexuals or with either type of male. Brown males were not observed to initiate aggression. Most blue male aggression was directed toward other blue males (70.6% of encounters), whereas 29.4% of encounters were with brown males. Blue males initiated 85.7% of the courtship encounters observed compared with only 7.1% initiated by brown males and 7.2% by females. Male-biased dimorphism in head and leg dimensions as well as coloration, together with higher rates of intrasexual aggression and courtship activity by blue males, are consistent with the hypothesis that sexual selection explains the evolution of sexual dimorphism in C. murinus.
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