Evolutionary links between skull shape and body size suggest selective
rather than allometric forces at work in a generalist group of lizards
Abstract
The vertebrate skull is a complex structure, and studies of skull shape
have yielded considerable insight into the evolutionary forces shaping
specialized phenotypes in organisms as diverse as bats, frogs, and
fossorial animals. Here, we used phylogenetic comparative analyses of CT
scans of male skulls from 57 species of Sceloporus lizards to explore
patterns of skull evolution in a group of generalist species. We found
that most interspecific variation is in terms of skull and snout
elongation such that some species have long, narrow snouts, whereas
others exhibit more compact snouts and wide jaws. We also found strong
links to overall body size, with evolutionary shifts to larger bodies
being associated with more compact skulls and slower evolutionary rates.
This is the opposite of the pattern in mammals in which larger-bodied
species have longer snouts (likely reflecting developmental processes),
and more like the pattern in frogs in which function has played a more
important evolutionary role. Also, unlike other vertebrates, the jaw,
anterior, and posterior parts of the Sceloporus skull are largely
integrated, having evolved independently of each other only to a
limited, albeit significant, degree. Our results emphasize the
importance of body size in evolutionary shaping of the skull and suggest
that additional studies of behavioral function in a generalist group are
warranted.