Variación y asociación morfológica de la garra y las almohadillas adhesivas en los morfotipos de Anolis de Colombia

Abstract

The study of the radiation of anolines in the continent has shown to have a convergent morphological pattern comparable to the radiation of the Caribbean, thus, 10 morphotypes were described for Colombia. The morphology of the claw has been described for different groups of vertebrates, being of great interest in Squamata, due to the ecological diversity of these organisms. Thus, morphological patterns of the claw associated with habitat use have been documented in lizards. Specifically, in Anolis of the Caribbean islands it was reported that there is a relationship between the morphological variation of the adhesive pads with respect to the microhabitat. Therefore, the objective of this work was to describe the morphology of the claw and the pad for 63 species of anoline, which make up the morphotypes of Colombia, including species from island communities. For this, photographs of the claw and the pad of the fourth finger of the extremities were taken, morphometric analysis and evolutionary models were applied to determine the variation and evolution of these structures. Morphological differences of the claw and pad were found between morphotypes and morphological correlations that may be linked to the use of the microhabitat. Likewise, there is a convergent pattern of claw morphology between the anolines of the continent and the Greater Antilles.