Abdominal Grey Color Variation along an Elevation Gradient in a Lizard  

作　　者：Zian WEI Jiasheng LI Tao WANG Minglu YANG Yuanting JIN 

机构地区：[1]College of Life Sciences,China Jiliang University,Hangzhou 310018,Zhejiang,China [2]College of Life Sciences and Medicine,Zhejiang Sci-Tech University,Hangzhou 310018,Zhejiang,China [3]College of Life Sciences,Northwest Normal University,Lanzhou 730070,Gansu,China

出　　处：《Asian Herpetological Research》2023年第2期156-166,共11页亚洲两栖爬行动物研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(STEP,Grant No.2019 QZKK0501);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.31772447);Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation(LY21C040002)。

摘　　要：Color variation among populations is thought to be either due to genetic variation or phenotype plasticity.In this study,we found that an agamid lizard,Phrynocephalus theobaldi,inhabiting elevations greater than any other reptile,displayed a significantly darker spotted marking on the central ventral abdomen in higher populations than in lower populations.The grey spotted area only occurred in elevations>4200 m,and also increased with increased elevation.The ratio of the size of the dark colored area to the degree of skin luminance/reflectance was used to test whether the lizard has a larger and darker spotted area at higher elevations.This ratio was significantly positively associated with elevation rather than substrate color.The lizard did not display sexual difference in this phenotype.Temperature had a significant influence on the brightness of central abdomen,but temperature-related plasticity of this trait was much smaller than the magnitude of the difference between higher(>4200 m)and lower populations(<4200 m).Common garden experiments showed that genetic inheritance,rather than phenotype plasticity,played a dominant role in this variation.Our research addressed the darkness of a body region that is rarely analyzed because it is shielded from direct insolation.The idea that ventral color could be related to thermoregulation is shown to be worthy of further research.

关 键 词：central abdomen color variation common garden experiments ELEVATION REPTILE temperature 

分 类 号：Q958[生物学—动物学]