Pastoralism is a major agricultural activity in drier environments, and can directly and indirectly impact native species in those areas. We investigated how the supply of an artificial watering point to support grazing livestock affected movement and activity patterns of the Australian sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) during a drought year. We observed 23 adult lizards; six had access to a dam, ...

IN THEIR BREVIA “HOW THE HORNED LIZARD got its horns,” K. V. Young et al. present an important example of natural selection in the wild, suggesting that loggerhead shrike predation drove the evolution of elongated horns in the flat-tailed horned lizard (2 Apr., p. 65). Although the authors acknowledge that selective forces other than shrike predation may also be involved, they make no mention o...

Amphibians and reptiles were collected from tree buttresses in two different regions to determine whether within-habitat species diversity differences were evident. Using the method suggested by Pielou (1966), the average species diversity per individual was H' = 1.92 ± .47 for the collection of amphibians and reptiles taken from tree buttresses in a tropical dry forest formation in Thailand, H...

The olfactory receptor (OR) genes represent the largest multigene family in the genome of terrestrial vertebrates. Here, the high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach was applied to characterization of OR gene repertoires in the green anole lizard Anolis carolinensis and the Japanese four-lined ratsnake Elaphe quadrivirgata. Tagged polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products amplif...

The ability of the whiptail lizard Aspidoscelis marmorata (Teiidae) to detect and discriminate chemical stimuli associated with the integument of a sympatric saurophagous lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) was tested. Females of A. marmorata were presented with cotton swabs containing chemical cues from C. collaris and three species of nonsaurophagous lizards, as well as water and cologne (pungency ...

Ecologists increasingly recognize the ability of certain species to influence ecological processes by engineering the physical environment, but efforts to develop a predictive understanding of this phenomenon are in their early stages. While many believe that the landscape-scale effects of ecosystem engineers will be to increase habitat diversity and therefore the abundance and richness of othe...

Research into snake venoms has revealed extensive variation at all taxonomic levels. Lizard venoms, however, have received scant research attention in general, and no studies of intraclade variation in lizard venom composition have been attempted to date. Despite their iconic status and proven usefulness in drug design and discovery, highly venomous helodermatid lizards (gila monsters and beade...

Vallone, Daniela, Elena Frigato, Cristiano Vernesi, Augusto Foà, Nicholas S. Foulkes, and Cristiano Bertolucci. Hypothermia modulates circadian clock gene expression in lizard peripheral tissues.Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 292: R160–R166, 2007. First published June 29, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00370.2006.— The molecular mechanisms whereby the circadian clock responds to temperature ...

We studied the parasitism by larvae of the chigger mite Eutrombicula alfreddugesi on the lizard community of Restinga de Jurubatiba, Rio de Janeiro State, Southeastern Brazil. We investigated the patterns of infestation (prevalence and intensity) of chigger mites in four sympatric lizards: Tropidurus torquatus, Mabuya agilis, M. macrorhyncha and Cnemidophorus littoralis. All lizards collected w...

González, Julián, Antoni Gamundi, Rubén Rial, M. Cristina Nicolau, Luis De Vera, and Ernesto Pereda. Nonlinear, fractal, and spectral analysis of the EEG of lizard, Gallotia galloti. Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 46): R86–R93, 1999.—Electroencephalogram (EEG) from dorsal cortex of lizard Gallotia galloti was analyzed at different temperatures to test the presence of...