Previous work in the Wilczynski lab (Dunham et al., 2014) by Leslie Dunham showed that arginine vasotocin (AVT) played a significant role in aggressive behavior in male anoles lizards. A mirror-pairing test was used to simulate the presence of an aggressor and promote aggressive behavior in the male anoles lizard. Male anoles produce aggressive displays when seeing a mirror. Thirty-two male ano...

Pterygosoma patagonica n. sp. (Acari: Pterygosomatidae) is described from endemic iguanid lizards (Liolaemus spp.) of Argentina, based on its morphology. This external parasite is also known to parasitize Old World agamid lizards.

Bite performance in lizards influences many aspects of the animal's lifestyle. During feeding, inter- and intrasexual interactions, and defensive behavior, the ability to bite hard might be advantageous. Although biomechanical considerations predict clear relations between head shape and bite performance, this has rarely been tested. Here we investigate the effect of head shape on bite performa...

Sleeping exposes lizards to predation. Therefore, sleeping strategies must be directed towards avoiding predation and might vary among syntopic species. We studied sleeping site characteristics of two syntopic, congeneric lizards-the Bay Island forest lizard, Coryphophylax subcristatus and the short-tailed Bay Island lizard, C. brevicaudus and evaluated inter-specific differences. We measured s...

Pérez-Mellado, V. & Traveset, A.: Relationships between plants and Mediterranean lizards. Nat. Croat., Vol. 8, No. 3., 275–285, 1999, Zagreb. Different kinds of interactions between lizards and plants in the Mediterranean basin have been described. Lizards have shown to »use« plants as a refuge against predators, as a foraging site, as a thermal microhabitat or as a food resource. In the last c...

To determine whether the prevention of fever affects the survival of an animal infected with pathogenic bacteria, lizards (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) were infected with live Aeromonas hydrophila and received varying doses of sodium salicylate, an antipyretic drug. Twelve lizards received identical injections of bacteria along with a nontoxic dose of sodium salicylate; five animals increased their me...

It has been recently discovered that oblivious iguanid lizards can form a periodic sequence of tableaux vivants with some restrictions on the tableaux. By viewing each tableau as a dance step, a formable sequence can be seen as a dance choreography, performable by the lizards. Interestingly, a complete characterization exists of the dances performable by all families of oblivious iguanid lizard...

Lizards thermoregulate by behavioral and physiological adjustments. The resultant control over metabolic processes is generally assumed to be beneficial. However, these thermoregulatory adjustments have associated costs which, if extensive, make thermoregulation impractical. We extend this idea into an abstract mathematical, cost-benefit model of thermoregulation in lizards. Investigation of th...

(Callisaurus draconoides) and two populations of greater earless lizards (Cophosaurus texanus). Lizards were approached in the field, and five measures of wariness were recorded. Callisaurus had significantly greater approach distance and greater final distance than did Cophosaurus. Among populations of Callisaurus, lizards were wariest at the site with the least plant cover. Within populations...

SYNOPSIS Animals are constrained by their abilities and by interactions with environmental factors, such as low ambient temperatures. These constraints range from physical impossibilities to energetic inefficiencies, and may entail trade-offs. Some of the constraints related to locomotion and activity metabolism can be illustrated through allometric comparisons of mammals and lizards, as repres...