We performed a laboratory common-environment study to determine the genetic and environmental sources of variation in growth rates of the sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus). Hatchling lizards were reared from gravid females collected from three study populations along an elevational gradient in southern Utah, USA. Hatchlings were fed ad libidum and were maintained on a 14:10 light:dark cyc...

Today, Diploglossine lizards (Anguidae) are common on the Greater Antillean Islands (West Indies), where they are represented by many endemic species. However these lizards are very rare on the Lesser Antillean Islands, where they are only represented by a single species, the Montserrat galliwasp (Diploglossus montisserrati). Here, we show that diploglossine lizards were present in the past on ...

Scincus oficinalis Laur and Chalcides ocellatus Forskal were chosen as representatives of oviparous and viviparous lizards, respectively. Both lizards excrete their urinary constituents in the form of dry, hard concretions. The material employed in the present work was collected, during the summer, from twenty healthy lizards of each species. The procedure followed in the present investigation ...

Previously, we found that phrynosomatid lizards, a diverse group common in the southwestern USA, vary markedly in fiber-type composition of the iliofibularis (a hindlimb muscle important in locomotion). Phrynosomatidae comprises three subclades: the closely related sand and horned lizards, and their relatives the Sceloporus group. The variation in muscle fiber-type composition for 11 phrynosoma...

The distribution of vector meals in the host community is an important element of understanding and predicting vector-borne disease risk. Lizards (such as the western fence lizard; Sceloporus occidentalis) play a unique role in Lyme disease ecology in the far-western United States. Lizards rather than mammals serve as the blood meal hosts for a large fraction of larval and nymphal western black...

Ectothermic animals rely on behavioral thermoregulation due to low capacity of heat production and storage. Previously, lizards were shown to achieve 'fever' during microbial infection by increasing their preferred body temperature (PBT) behaviorally, thereby attaining a relatively high survival rate. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether domesticated lizards pursued 'behavioral ...

Animals that are unable to meet their metabolic needs should adopt compensatory behaviors to mitigate their energetic deficits. Voluntary hypothermia is one such energy-saving strategy. Physiological constraints associated with the digestion of plant tissues, however, may limit the thermoregulatory options of herbivorous ectotherms. In this laboratory study, selected body temperatures of Desert...