Occurrence data uncover patterns of allopatric divergence and interspecies interactions in the evolutionary history of Sceloporus lizards

Abstract

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Population differences in multimodal lizard communication are not well explained by habitat or history

“…S. u. hyacinthinus and S. u. undulatus also cluster together in the Eastern clade of the S. undulatus species complex, and are closer to each other geographically (Leaché & Reeder, 2002). This also agrees with a more general pattern found across the genus, where closely related species have similar morphology and tend to occur in close geographic proximity (Rivera et al, 2021). More specifically, we expected the behavior of S. u. hyacinthinus males to be roughly intermediate to that of males from the other two populations, based on geographic distances, and more similar to that of S. u. undulatus based on habitat.…”

“…Lizards in the genus Sceloporus are an excellent system for examining the role of habitat and evolutionary history on display behavior. The genus is large and includes several examples of species living in an array of different habitats (Hews & Martins, 2013; Rivera et al, 2020, 2021). Male lizards are territorial and exhibit different behavior to communicate with conspecifics (Hews & Martins, 2013; Ossip‐Drahos et al, 2018).…”

Factors related to species richness, endemism, and conservation status of the herpetofauna (Amphibia and Reptilia) of Mexican states

“…The positive relationships between species richness and latitude range and the number of physiographic regions for both amphibians and reptiles likely result from the increased variety of habitats and climates in a state leading to a greater number of niches, which can result in increased number of species occurring in a state. Our results for the herpetofauna of Mexico are similar to studies on Sceloporus lizards ( Rivera et al 2021 ) and on mammals finding that species richness at a variety of geographic scales increases with habitat or environmental heterogeneity ( Amori et al 2013 , 2019 ; Udy et al 2021 ).…”

“…Similarly, mammalian species richness in Mexico decreased with increasing latitude (Ceballos et al 1998). These results are also similar to those found for amphibians and reptiles in a variety of regions and countries, such as Europe (Assunção-Albuquerque et al 2012), United States (Schall and Pianka 1978), Australia (Schall and Pianka 1978), and North America (Rivera et al 2021;Whiting and Fox 2021). The latitudinal gradient of species richness in both amphibians and reptiles in Mexico might be related to latitudinal gradients in climate related factors.…”

The recombination landscapes of spiny lizards (genusSceloporus)

“…Sceloporus is a diverse genus of lizards native to North America with roughly 100 species that have been well-studied in terms of behavior ( Hews and Martins 2013 ), habitat ( Lawing et al 2016 ; Rivera et al 2020 , 2021 ), and phylogenetic relationships ( Wiens et al 2010 ; Lambert and Wiens 2013 ; Leaché et al 2016 ). Sceloporus species display an unusual variability in chromosome number—ranging from 22 to 46 chromosomes ( Sites et al 1992 ), resulting in a rapid differentiation among species with markedly different chromosome counts ( Leaché et al 2016 ).…”