Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription or Fee Access

The Island of Extremes: Giants and Dwarfs on a Small Remote Island

Yuval Itescu, Johannes Foufopoulos, Rachel Schwarz, Petros Lymberakis, Alex Slavenko, Ioanna-Aikaterini Gavriilidi, Shai Meiri, Panayiotis Pafilis

Abstract


Body size evolution on islands is widely studied and hotly debated. Gigantism and dwarfism are thought to evolve under strong natural selection, especially on small remote islands. We report a curious co-occurrence of both dwarf and giant lizards on the same small, remote island (Plakida): the largest Podarcis erhardii (Lacertidae) and smallest Mediodactylus kotschyi sensu lato; Gekkonidae — the two commonest insular reptiles in the Aegean Sea. The geckos of Plakida have a peculiar tail-waving behavior, documented here for the first time in this genus. We suspect that P. erhardii evolved large size to consume geckos and the geckos evolved a unique tail-waving behavior as a defensive mechanism.

Keywords


Aegean Sea islands; body size; geckos; lizards; tail autotomy; tail waving

Full Text:

PDF

References


Alonso M. L. B., Cotrina, J. M., Pardo D. A., Font E., and Molina-Borja M. (2010), «Sex differences in antipredator tail-waving displays of the diurnal yellow-headed gecko Gonatodes albogularis from tropical forests of Colombia», J. Ethol., 28(2), 305 – 311.

Brock K. M., Bednekoff P. A., Pafilis P., and Foufopoulos J. (2015), «Evolution of antipredator behavior in an island lizard species, Podarcis erhardii (Reptilia: Lacertidae): The sum of all fears?» Evolution, 69(1), 216 – 231.

Cooper, Jr., W. E. (1998), «Reactive and anticipatory display to deflect predatory attack to an autotomous lizard tail», Can. J. Zool., 76(8), 1507 – 1510.

Dayan T. and Simberloff D. (1998), «Size patterns among competitors: ecological character displacement and character release in mammals, with special reference to island populations», Mammal Rev., 28(3), 99 – 124.

Deem V. and Hedman H. (2014), «Potential cannibalism and intraspecific tail autotomization in the Aegean wall lizard, Podarcis erhardii», Hyla, 2014(1), 33 – 34.

Itescu Y. (2017), Evolution on Islands: Testing the Extent and Consistency of the Effects of Island Characteristics. Ph.D. Thesis, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Itescu Y., Karraker N. E., Raia P., Pritchard P. C. H., and Meiri S. (2014), «Is the island rule general? Turtles disagree», Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 23(6), 689 – 700.

Itescu Y., Schwarz R., Donihue C. M., Slavenko A., Roussos S. A., Sagonas K., Valakos E. D., Foufopoulos J., Pafilis P., and Meiri S. (2018a), «Inconsistent patterns of body size evolution in co-occurring island reptiles», Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 27(5), 538 – 550.

Itescu Y., Schwarz R., Meiri S., and Pafilis P. (2017), «Intra-specific competition, not predation, drives lizard tail loss on islands», J. Anim. Ecol., 86(1), 66 – 74.

Itescu Y., Schwarz R., Meiri S., and Pafilis P. (2018b), «Lizard tail-loss rates on islands are not governed by longer life spans», Isr. J. Ecol. Evol., 63(2), 53 – 56.

Keogh J. S., Scott I. A., and Hayes C. (2005), «Rapid and repeated origin of insular gigantism and dwarfism in Australian tiger snakes», Evolution, 59(1), 226 – 233.

Kotsakiozi P., Jablonski D., Ilgaz Ç., Kumlutaş Y., Avcı A., Meiri S., Itescu Y., Kukushkin O., Gvoždík V., Scillitani G., Roussos S. A., Jandzik D., Kasapidis P., Lymberakis P., and Poulakakis N. (2018), «Multilocus phylogeny and coalescent species delimitation in Kotschy’s gecko, Mediodactylus kotschyi: hidden diversity and cryptic species», Mol. Phylogen. Evol., 125, 177 – 187.

Lokatis S. and Jeschke J. M. (2018), «The island rule: An assessment of biases and research trends», J. Biogeogr., 45(2), 289 – 303.

Lomolino M. V. (2005), «Body size evolution in insular vertebrates: generality of the island rule», J. Biogeogr., 32(10), 1683 – 1699.

Lymberakis P., Poulakakis N., Kaliontzopoulou A., Valakos E., and Mylonas M. (2008), «Two new species of Podarcis (Squamata; Lacertidae) from Greece», Syst. Biodivers., 6(3), 307 – 318.

Madden I. E., and Brock K. M. (2018), «An extreme case of cannibalism in Podarcis erhardii mykonensis (Reptilia: Lacertidae) from Siros island, Cyclades, Greece», Herpetol. Notes, 11, 291 – 292.

Masseti M. (2012), Atlas of terrestrial mammals of the Ionian and Aegean islands, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Meik J. M., Lawing A. M., and Pires-daSilva A. (2010), «Body size evolution in insular speckled rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus mitchellii)», PLOS One, 5(3), e9524.

Meiri S. (2007), «Size evolution in island lizards», Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 16(6), 702 – 708.

Meiri S., Meijaard E., Wich S., Groves C., and Helgen K. (2008). Mammals of Borneo — small size on a large island», J. Biogeogr., 35(6), 1087 – 1094.

Meiri S., Raia P., and Phillimore A. B. (2011), «Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands», J. Biogeogr., 38(1), 89 – 100.

Pafilis P., Meiri S., Foufopoulos J., and Valakos E. (2009), «Intraspecific competition and high food availability are associated with insular gigantism in a lizard», Naturwissenschaften, 96(9), 1107 – 1113.

Polis G. A. and Hurd S. D. (1996), «Linking marine and terrestrial food webs: allochthonous input from the ocean supports high secondary productivity on small islands and coastal land communities», Am. Naturalist, 147(3), 396 – 423.

Poulakakis N., Kapli P., Lymberakis P., Trichas A., Vardinoyiannis K., Sfenthourakis S., and Mylonas M. (2014), «A review of phylogeographic analyses of animal taxa from the Aegean and surrounding regions», J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 53(1), 18 – 32.

Richardson K. M., Iverson J. B., and Kurle C. M. (2019), «Marine subsidies likely cause gigantism of iguanas in the Bahamas», Oecologia, 189(4), 1005 – 1015.

Saenz D. and Conner R. N. (1996), «Sexual dimorphism in head size of the Mediterranean gecko Hemidactylus turcicus (Sauria: Gekkonidae)», Texas J. Sci., 48(3), 207 – 212.

Schoener T. W. (1965), «The evolution of bill size differences among sympatric congeneric species of birds», Evolution, 19(2), 189 – 213.

Schoener T. W. (1970), «Size patterns in West Indian Anolis lizards. II. Correlations with the sizes of particular sympatric species-displacement and convergence», Am. Naturalist, 104(936), 155 – 174.

Schwarz R., Gavriilidi I.-A., Itescu Y., Jamison S., Sagonas K., Meiri S., and Pafilis P. (2016), «Mediodactylus kotschyi in the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece: distribution and habitat», Acta Herpetol., 11(2), 179 – 187.

Schwarz R., Itescu Y., Antonopoulos A., Gavriilidi I.-A., Tamar K., Pafilis P., and Meiri S. (2020), «Isolation and predation drive gecko life-history evolution on islands», Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 129(3), 618 – 629.

Valakos E. and Vlachopanos A. (1989), «Note on the ecology of Cyrtodactylus kotschyi (Reptilia, Gekkonidae) in an insular ecosystem of the Aegean», Biol. Gallo-Hellen., 15, 179 – 184.

Wettstein O. v. (1937), «Vierzehn neue Reptilienrassen von den südlichen ägäischen Inseln», Zool. Anz., 118, 79 – 90.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-4-225-230

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.