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Despite the abundance and diversity of lizards in the family Scincidae, descriptions of their cranial and postcranial osteologies are almost nonexistent. Here, we provide detailed descriptions of adult skeletal morphologies in three scincid species: Ablepharus kitaibelii, A. cher novi and A. budaki. The skeletal elements of these lizards are descr...
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... mandible comprises six paired elements: the dentary, splenial, coronoid, angular, surangular and articular (Fig. 4). The bones articulate with the posterolateral margin of the skull via the connection between the quadrate and ...
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... The dentary is a long bone that forms the lower jaw with other mandibular bones (Fig. 4B). The dentary is the largest element of the jaw and it is only portion of the lower jaw that bears teeth. The posterior margin of the bone is in contact with the angular and splenial ventrally and coronoid dorsally. Posteriorly, the bone ar- ticulates with the ...
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... The splenial is present on the ventromedial part of the mandible (Fig. 4B). Anteriorly, the bone overlaps the dentary. Dorsally the splenial articulates with the an- teromedial process of the ...
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... The coronoid is triangular bone that lies be- tween the mandibular tooth row and the surangular bone (Fig. 4A). The coronoid has a large dorsal process that extends to the dorsal margin of the mandible. The height of the coronoid process is nearly equal to the height of the dentary in lateral ...
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... The angular is a small bone that lies at the ven- tral portion of the mandible (Fig. 4A) and is located pos- terior to the splenial. n -nasal; pa -parietal; pbas -parabasisphenoid; pf -prefrontal; pl -palatine; pm -premaxilla; po -postorbital; pof -postfrontal; pro - prootic; pt -pterygoid; q -quadrate; soc -supraoccipital; sq -squamosal; sut -supratemporal; vo -vomer. Scale bar = 2 ...
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A new species of Acanthosaura from Yunnan, China, is described based on morphological and genetic data. The new species can be separated from all other species of the genus by having a different shape of the black eye patch, a different coloration of the postorbital and occipital spines and nuchal crest, and a different color of the gular pouch. Ge...
Citations
... 2. Поперечные сечения костей бедра самок Ablepharus bivittatus из Ханегях-е-Олийа: А -однолетняя особь (30.6 мм), Б -двухлетняя особь (45.2 мм), В -трехлетняя особь (46.2 мм), Г -четырехлетняя особь (47.0 мм), Д -пятилетняя особь (53.8 мм), Е -шестилетняя особь (51.6 мм); нл -неонатальная линия. (Yıldırım et al., 2017). ...
The age, growth, and fertility of two populations of Ablepharus bivittatus in the Talysh Mountains are presented. Altogether, 59 individuals were studied from two localities in the Ardabil Province, Iran, one being the village of Khanegah-e-Oliya in Nemin shahrestan and the other the village of Majara in Khalkhal shahrestan. The age of the lizards was determined using skeletochronology. The average age of females was 3.6 ± 1.15 years (maximum 6 years), in males 2.6 ± 1.24 (maximum 5 years). On the sections of tubular bones of many individuals, lines of growth retardation are noted, corresponding to hibernation and aestivation. Lizards grow intensely during the first 3 years of life, but then their growth slows down. Animals in the age groups of 3 years and older do not differ in body length. The age of pregnant lizards is 2–5 years, on average 3.7 ± 0.91 years. The fertility of females does not depend on age.
... However, there are interspecific differences in the number, measures and fusion of some elements. In the present 2 species studied, the limb elements are generally similar to that described by Stephenson and Stephenson [37] in Naultinus elegans, Hoplodactylus duvaucelii and Hoplodactylus pacificus, El-Wetery [38] in Agamidae and Chamaeleontidae, Lima et al. [39] in Caiman yacare, Yildirim et al. [40]) in Eumeces schneideri barani, Eumeces schneideri princeps and Eumeces schneideri pavimentatus, Fontanarrosa and Abdala [41], in several Squamata, Yıldırım et al. [42] in Ablepharus kitaibelii and Ríos-Orjuela et al. [43] in Anolis heterodermus and Anolis tolimensis and Ali et al. [44] in Acanthodactylus boskianus and Ptyodactylus guttatus. ...
Lizards have the broadest geographical distribution encompassing a wide range of locomotor habitats. This is reflected in a large morphological diversity of the general body form and of the locomotory apparatus among these animals. So, the present study aimed to clarify the osteological characteristics of the limb skeleton of two endemic species sharing the same environment but differ in microhabitat and mode of their locomotion. Under a dissecting microscope, the fore and hindlimbs of each animal were excised by using iris scissors after narcotizing by doses of anesthetic. The specimens were processed for staining with Alcian blue and alizarin stains to stain the skeletal limbs. In the current study, intra- and interspecific variations were observed in 2 species studied in measurements of limb elements. In Chamaeleo calyptratus both the fore- and hind limbs were relatively equal in length. While, the FOL, MAL, TOFL2, TOFL3, TOFL4 and TOFL5 were significantly shorter than the hindlimb in Acantocercus adramitanus (t= -5.60, -8.59, -3.84, -6.69, -6.12 and -8.35 respectively P= 0.000). A significant pronounced variation in the length of the long bone in lizard studied. Meanwhile, high significant variations were noticeable for metacarpus and metatarsus measurements in A. adramitanus (F4,45= 88.66, P< 0.0001 and F4,45= 32.07, P <0.0001 respectively). Slightly significant variations were observed in metacarpus and metatarsus measurements of C. calyptratus (F4,45= 3.34, P<0.02 and F4,45= 3.42, P<0.02 respectively). Except the centrale, the width of elements composing the wrist and ankle is larger than length in A. adramitanus. High significant variations were noticeable in the autopodium of C. calyptratus. The radiale and centrale had larger length than width. However, C. calyptratus have relatively short ulnare, distal carpus 5 and proximal tarsus. These variations in limb elements of A. adramitanus and C. calyptratus may be due to the difference in microhabitat.
... kitaibelii Bibron et Bory de Saint-Vincent 1833) from the territory of Bulgaria, the maximum age for females and males was three years (Vergilov et al., 2018). In Turkey, the average age of adult animals was 5.75 years for the same species, 4.83 years for Budak's (Yıldırım et al., 2017). The presence of two types of lines of arrested growth on sections of tubular bones suggests that, in addition to the period of hibernation, this species is characterized by aestivation during the summer months. ...
The age, growth, and fertility of two populations of Ablepharus bivittatus in the Talysh Mountains are presented. Altogether, 59 individuals were studied from two localities in the Ardabil Province, Iran, one being the village of Khanegah-e-Oliya in Namin region and the other the village of Majara in Khalkhal region. The age of the lizards was determined using skeletochronology. The average age in females was 3.6 ± 1.15 years (maximum of six years), in males 2.6 ± 1.24 (maximum of five years). The sections of tubular bones of many individuals were noted to have lines of arrested growth corresponding to hibernation and aestivation. Lizards grow intensely during the first three years of life, but then their growth slows down. Animals in the age groups of three years and older do not differ in body length. The age of pregnant lizards is 2-5 years, on average, 3.7 ± 0.91 years. The fertility of females does not depend on age.
... To mitigate this lack of data, the present study on Ablepharus kitaibelii combines a thorough morphological investigation with experimental data on feeding kinematics and bite force, and a novel method of studying skull manipulations using microscopic 3D imaging. Ablepharus kitaibelii is one of the smallest lizards in the world, with an average head length of less than 7 mm (Ljubisavljevićet al., 2002;Yildirim et al., 2017). Some data for Ablepharus skull morphology have previously been published. ...
... Haas (1935) made a detailed histological study of the skull based on transverse sections. Fuhn (1969) provided some data on osteology, and recently a detailed comparative study on the osteology of three Ablepharus species was published (Yildirim et al., 2017). ...
... A detailed description of A. kitaibelii skull osteology based on cleared and stained specimens was published recently (Yildirim et al., 2017), thus we only quickly review the general characteristics of skull design relevant for cranial kinesis. ...
Cranial kinesis refers to intracranial movements in the vertebrate skull that do not concern the jaw joint, the middle ear or the hypobranchial skeleton. Different kinds of cranial kinesis have been reported for lizards, including mesokinesis, metakinesis, amphikinesis (simultaneous mesokinesis and metakinesis) and streptostyly. Streptostyly is considered relatively widespread within lizards, whereas mesokinesis has been documented only for geckos, varanids and anguids. The present study investigated cranial kinesis in the miniaturised scincid Ablepharus kitaibelii by integrating morphological and experimental data. Based on micro computed tomography, we provide a description of skull osteology. Cranial joints were studied with histology, which results in the first detailed description of cranial joint histology for a member of the Scincidae. Taken together, the morphological data indicate a high potential for amphikinesis and streptostyly, which was also corroborated by skull manipulations. High-speed cinematography demonstrated that mesokinesis occurs during food uptake, processing and intraoral transport cycles. Bite force measurements showed prolonged and reasonably hard biting even at large gape angles. Based on these data, we formulate a model of the amphikinetic A. kitaibelii skull mechanism, which provides an extension of Frazzetta's quadric-crank model by placing a special emphasis on metakinesis. According to this model, we hypothesise that metakinetic intracranial movements may provide a means for reducing strain in jaw adductor muscles. Presented hypotheses can be addressed and tested in future studies.
... is habitat of sample captured. The distribution map is shown at (C) based on references (Fuhn, 1970;Eiselt, 1976;Baran 1977;1980;Kumlutaş, 1993;Atatür et al., 2001;Arıkan and Çiçek, 2010;Skourtanioti et al., 2016;Yıldırım et al., 2017;Baycan and Tosunoğlu, 2017). Circle represents the new one (Gümüşhane), while stars are known localities. ...
In present study, we report new locality records for Eumeces schneideri, Heremites vittatus and Ablepharus chernovi from Turkey during fieldwork in 2016-2017. In additionally, we present a summary of the morphological characters including meristic pholidolial characteristics, metric measurements and color-pattern features for our samples.
The life‐history traits of ectothermic animals can be influenced by many abiotic factors, including climate. As an ectothermic species, we questioned whether the life‐history characteristics of the orange‐tailed skink (Eumeces schneiderii) populations differ between two different environments/climates. Our findings showed that the average body size of lizards living in the Mediterranean climate zone was higher than those in the continental climate zone. However, although Mediterranean population had higher mean values regarding average age, there was no discernible difference between the two climate zone populations. When considering all populations collectively, it has been discovered that the species' maximum lifespan is 18 years. Body size notably increased with age in both populations. Through the utilization of the von Bertalanffy equation, the anticipated growth parameters portrayed a highly accurate connection between age and snout–vent length. In conclusion, lizards living in habitats characterized by milder Mediterranean climates were found to have larger body sizes than continental populations, but both populations were comparable in terms of mean age. This difference can be explained by several factors, including activation time, temperature, precipitation, food abundance, and the presence of predators.
Representative locomotion types in lizards include terrestrial, arboreal, grass swimmer, sand swimmer and bipedal. Few studies explain the locomotion habit of extinct lizards, and even less asses those of bipedal ones. Here, we use quantitative methods to infer the type of locomotion of two Albian Mexican lizards (Lower Cretaceous) and three Cretaceous lizards from Brazil, North America and Spain, assessing the similarities of the hindlimb-forelimb length ratio amongst extinct and extant species. Additionally, an ancestral character state reconstruction analysis was performed, to evaluate the evolution of lizard locomotion habits. The species Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus was bipedal while Tijubina pontei was facultative bipedal, Hoyalacerta sanzi , Tepexisaurus tepexii and Polyglyphanodon sternbergi cannot be differentiated amongst terrestrial or arboreal with the approach used in this work. The ancestral character state reconstruction analysis showed a terrestrial ancestral locomotion type, with a basal character state of hindlimbs longer than forelimbs. Equal length between hind and forelimbs appear to be a derivate state that evolved multiple times in lizard evolutionary history.
Representative locomotion types in lizards include terrestrial, arboreal, grass swimmer, sand swimmer and bipedal. Few studies explain the locomotion habit of extinct lizards, and even less asses those of bipedal ones. Here, we use quantitative methods to infer the type of locomotion of two Albian Mexican lizards (Lower Cretaceous) and three Cretaceous lizards from Brazil, North America and Spain, assessing the similarities of the hindlimb-forelimb length ratio amongst extinct and extant species. Additionally, an ancestral character state reconstruction analysis was performed, to evaluate the evolution of lizard locomotion habits. The species Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus was bipedal while Tijubina pontei was facultative bipedal, Hoyalacerta sanzi, Tepexisaurus tepexii and Polyglyphanodon sternbergi cannot be differentiated amongst terrestrial or arboreal with the approach used in this work. The ancestral character state reconstruction analysis showed a terrestrial ancestral locomotion type, with a basal character state of hindlimbs longer than forelimbs. Equal length between hind and forelimbs appear to be a derivate state that evolved multiple times in lizard evolutionary history.
We here describe the first Neogene record of the squamate clade Mabuyidae. Although this clade has a cosmopolitan distribution today, no pre-Quaternary fossil record of these reptiles has so far been documented. The material comes from the locality Solnechnodolsk (Russia) and is dated to the late Miocene (MN 13). Although it comprises only jaw elements, it constitutes the first evidence of the occurrence of fossil skinks around the area of the Black Sea. The material is identical to Heremites vittatus, showing the existence of this lineage as early as the late Miocene. Thus, it may be used as a potential calibration point for further studies. The comparative anatomy of the structures of lower jaw in selected scinco-morph taxa with a special reference to Mabuya group is presented. The closure of the Meckelian canal is the condition at the basal node of the clade Sphenomorphidae + Eugongylidae + Egerniidae + Mabuyidea, whereas the closed canal in Acontias (Acontidae) evolved independently. However, Sphenomorphidae (Asymblepharus and Scin-cella) + Eugongylidae (Ablepharus) retain a large anterior opening of the Meckelian canal, whereas only a small opening characterizes the basal node of Egerniidae and Mabuyidae, except for H. vittatus and H. septemtaeniatus. The closure of the Meckelian canal in these two taxa is less well developed in comparison with other mabuyid skinks. Thus, a heterochronic pedomorphic process might have played a role in the evolution of these skinks. The Meckelian canal condition supports the monophyly of Heremites.
