Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus

Abstract Toe fringe is the most typical morphological feature of lizards adapted to sandy environments, and it is simple in shape, can evolve repeatedly, and has a high degree of repetition; therefore, this feature is suitable for testing the adaptive convergence suggested by form-environment correl...

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Autores principales:	Peng Zheng, Tao Liang, Jing An, Lei Shi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/3fb632df4655475ca807451815105a6e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:3fb632df4655475ca807451815105a6e2021-12-02T11:57:58ZMorphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus10.1038/s41598-020-79113-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/3fb632df4655475ca807451815105a6e2020-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79113-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Toe fringe is the most typical morphological feature of lizards adapted to sandy environments, and it is simple in shape, can evolve repeatedly, and has a high degree of repetition; therefore, this feature is suitable for testing the adaptive convergence suggested by form-environment correlations. Phrynocephalus mystaceus mainly lives in dune habitats, has a developed bilateral toe fringe, and exhibits fast sand-burying behavior for predator avoidance. We tested the effects of resecting the medial and bilateral toe fringes on the locomotor performance and sand-burying performance of P. mystaceus. The results showed that the maximum sprint speed and acceleration on sand substrate did not significantly differ under different conditions (P > 0.05). Sand-burying performance scores of the unresected individuals were significantly greater than those of the resected individuals (P < 0.05). A partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis showed that the relative area of toe fringe was the main factor affecting the sand-burying performance of unresected P. mystaceus. For lizards without fringe, the PLS regression showed that the swinging index of the hind-limb was the main factor affecting the sand-burying performance of the lizard. A comparison of the swinging indexes of the hind-limb of the lizard under three states revealed that under the unresected states, the frequency of the swinging of the hind-limb was significantly higher than those of lizards with resected bilateral fringes, further indicating that the lizards compensated for the loss of fringe by increasing the time and frequency of swinging of the hind-limb. A path analysis also showed that the fringe affected the sand-burying performance of P. mystaceus not only directly but also indirectly by affecting the frequency of the swinging of the hind-limb. After the bilateral toe fringe was removed, a significant negative correlation between locomotor and sand-burying performance was observed (P < 0.05). Taken together, these results provide experimental evidence that toe fringe is positively associated with the sand-burying performance of P. mystaceus.Peng ZhengTao LiangJing AnLei ShiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Peng Zheng Tao Liang Jing An Lei Shi Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus
description	Abstract Toe fringe is the most typical morphological feature of lizards adapted to sandy environments, and it is simple in shape, can evolve repeatedly, and has a high degree of repetition; therefore, this feature is suitable for testing the adaptive convergence suggested by form-environment correlations. Phrynocephalus mystaceus mainly lives in dune habitats, has a developed bilateral toe fringe, and exhibits fast sand-burying behavior for predator avoidance. We tested the effects of resecting the medial and bilateral toe fringes on the locomotor performance and sand-burying performance of P. mystaceus. The results showed that the maximum sprint speed and acceleration on sand substrate did not significantly differ under different conditions (P > 0.05). Sand-burying performance scores of the unresected individuals were significantly greater than those of the resected individuals (P < 0.05). A partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis showed that the relative area of toe fringe was the main factor affecting the sand-burying performance of unresected P. mystaceus. For lizards without fringe, the PLS regression showed that the swinging index of the hind-limb was the main factor affecting the sand-burying performance of the lizard. A comparison of the swinging indexes of the hind-limb of the lizard under three states revealed that under the unresected states, the frequency of the swinging of the hind-limb was significantly higher than those of lizards with resected bilateral fringes, further indicating that the lizards compensated for the loss of fringe by increasing the time and frequency of swinging of the hind-limb. A path analysis also showed that the fringe affected the sand-burying performance of P. mystaceus not only directly but also indirectly by affecting the frequency of the swinging of the hind-limb. After the bilateral toe fringe was removed, a significant negative correlation between locomotor and sand-burying performance was observed (P < 0.05). Taken together, these results provide experimental evidence that toe fringe is positively associated with the sand-burying performance of P. mystaceus.
format	article
author	Peng Zheng Tao Liang Jing An Lei Shi
author_facet	Peng Zheng Tao Liang Jing An Lei Shi
author_sort	Peng Zheng
title	Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus
title_short	Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus
title_full	Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus
title_fullStr	Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus
title_full_unstemmed	Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus
title_sort	morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard phrynocephalus mystaceus
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/3fb632df4655475ca807451815105a6e
work_keys_str_mv	AT pengzheng morphologicalfunctionoftoefringeinthesandlizardphrynocephalusmystaceus AT taoliang morphologicalfunctionoftoefringeinthesandlizardphrynocephalusmystaceus AT jingan morphologicalfunctionoftoefringeinthesandlizardphrynocephalusmystaceus AT leishi morphologicalfunctionoftoefringeinthesandlizardphrynocephalusmystaceus
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Morphological function of toe fringe in the sand lizard Phrynocephalus mystaceus

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