MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSIFICATION AND ADAPTIVE RADIATION: A COMPARISON OF TWO DIVERSE LIZARD CLADES.

摘要: We compared the morphological diversity (i.e., amount of space occupied) two similar clades, lizard genera Anolis and Sceloporus. These species-rich monophyletic clades are in body size, age origin, many aspects their natural history. examined a number traits whose variation is likely to represent adaptation different environment, including limb proportions, head dimensions, tail length. Examination position species multidimensional space, based on principal components analysis, indicates that Anolis, which we refer as disparity, significantly greater than One potential explanation for this pattern diversification was facilitated by evolution subdigital toe-pads, allow anoles use environment ways not available The geographic location (tropical subtropical arid Sceloporus) may also have been important.