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

doi:10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-4-225-230

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

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	225-230
Number of pages	6
Journal	Russian Journal of Herpetology
Volume	28
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-4-225-230
State	Published - 1 Jan 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Aegean Sea islands
Body size
Geckos
Lizards
Tail autotomy
Tail waving

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Animal Science and Zoology

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10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-4-225-230

Cite this

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title = "The island of extremes: Giants and dwarfs on a small remote island",

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.",

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AU - Itescu, Yuval

AU - Foufopoulos, Johannes

AU - Schwarz, Rachel

AU - Lymberakis, Petros

AU - Slavenko, Alex

AU - Gavriilidi, Ioanna Aikaterini

AU - Meiri, Shai

AU - Pafilis, Panayiotis

PY - 2021/1/1

Y1 - 2021/1/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Aegean Sea islands

KW - Body size

KW - Geckos

KW - Lizards

KW - Tail autotomy

KW - Tail waving

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JO - Russian Journal of Herpetology

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IS - 4

ER -

The island of extremes: Giants and dwarfs on a small remote island

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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