The Review of the Autotomy of Agamid Lizards with Considerations about the Types of Autotomy and Regeneration

Abstract

We present a review of the data on the intervertebral autotomy and regeneration of agamid lizards based on an analysis of information obtained over a 35-year period after the publication of thorough reviews (Arnold, 1984, 1988 and Bellairs, Bryant, 1985). It is supplemented by our own studies of 869 specimens of agamid lizards (Sauria, Agamidae) stored in the herpetological collections of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia) and the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), represented by 31 species of 16 genera. The manifestations of the ability for autotomy and regeneration in phylogenetic lineages within the family—Leiolepidinae, Amphibolurinae, Agaminae, Draconinae—are considered. A comparative morphological analysis of the structure of the caudal vertebrae was carried out using the Computer Microtomography Methods (micro-CT) in the following ecomorphological types of agama: (1) with developed abilities to caudal autotomy and regeneration, (2) with the ability to caudal autotomy but without regeneration and (3) without the ability to autotomy. The phenomenon of intervertebral autotomy (urotomy) in snakes is considered too. Possible ways of evolution of the ability to caudal autotomy as a defense strategy against predators are discussed in the phylogenetic context.

Introduction to the Study on Regeneration in Lizards as an Amniote Model of Organ Regeneration

“…Presently, lizards are also the usual prey of snakes, birds, and small mammals, including domestic cats, to the point that sometimes one wonders how lizards are the most successful extant reptiles, with more than 3500 species, against 2700 for snakes, 200 for turtles, and 33 species of crocodilians [ 78 ]. For sure, one of the mechanisms essential for their evolutionary endurance has been tail autotomy, a process of self-amputation of the tail that is very effective to save a lizard’s life against predators [ 79 , 80 , 81 ].…”