Postautotomy tail movement differs between colour morphs of the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banan W. Otaibi ◽  
Quincey K. Johnson ◽  
Bradley J. Cosentino

Striped and unstriped colour morphs of the eastern red-backed salamander,Plethodon cinereus, vary in their pre-attack behavioural response to predators, but it is unknown whether the morphs vary in post-attack strategies. Both morphs employ tail autotomy, a post-attack defensive mechanism enabling an individual to release a portion of their tail to facilitate escape from predation. Postautotomy tail movement diverts attention of a predator away from the individual’s body, so natural selection should favor vigorous tail movement in both colour morphs ofP. cinereus. We compared the degree of postautotomy tail movement between morphs following simulated predation. Striped individuals exhibited substantially longer and faster tail movement than unstriped individuals. Divergence in postautotomy tail movement may be a direct evolved response to variable predation pressure between colour morphs. Alternatively, tail movement may be constrained in the unstriped morph due to a genetic correlation with colouration (e.g., pleiotropy).

2011 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-David Moore ◽  
John Gilhen

Three colour morphs of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, are known in eastern Canada: red-backed, lead-backed, and erythristic. Anomalies, including two albino and four leucistic individuals, are also known from eastern Canada. We report the first salamander individuals exhibiting amelanism, which is a lack of black skin pigment, but with black eyes, one from Quebec and one from Nova Scotia, Canada.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-230
Author(s):  
Yuval Itescu ◽  
Johannes Foufopoulos ◽  
Rachel Schwarz ◽  
Petros Lymberakis ◽  
Alex Slavenko ◽  
...  

Body size evolution on islands is widely studied and hotly debated. Gigantism and dwarfism are thought to evolve under strong natural selection, especially on small remote islands. We report a curious co-occurrence of both dwarf and giant lizards on the same small, remote island (Plakida): the largest Podarcis erhardii (Lacertidae) and smallest Mediodactylus kotschyi sensu lato; Gekkonidae — the two commonest insular reptiles in the Aegean Sea. The geckos of Plakida have a peculiar tail-waving behavior, documented here for the first time in this genus. We suspect that P. erhardii evolved large size to consume geckos and the geckos evolved a unique tail-waving behavior as a defensive mechanism.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Geoffrey R. Smith ◽  
Abhishek V. Henry ◽  
Wesley O. Smith ◽  
Logan E. Smith

Abstract Water loss and gain rates of amphibians are important to understanding their ecology, especially for plethodontid salamanders. We report the first estimates of repeatability of relative water loss and gain rates of the two major colour morphs of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, in the fall and spring seasons. Repeatability of relative water loss in P. cinereus was >0 in the fall but not in the spring. Repeatability of relative water gain was significant for all salamanders pooled in the fall, and was not repeatable in the spring. There were no apparent differences in repeatability of relative water loss or gain between the two colour morphs. Our results suggest that the repeatability of relative water loss and gain rates varies by season, but not by colour morph.


1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 398-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harm P. Gross

Three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) can receive considerable protection against predators from characteristic dorsal and pelvic spines. The size and structure of this defensive apparatus were examined in marine and freshwater populations located throughout the European distribution of this species and exposed to differing predatory species and levels of predation pressure. Marine populations appear to experience the greatest predation pressure and have the largest defensive apparatus. Predation in freshwater appears to decline towards both the northern and southern distributional extremes of Gasterosteus, a result attributable to the differential distributions of major piscine predators, especially pike and perch; and this pattern produces arched clines in the morphometrics of defensive structures. Local differences in central latitudes can also be attributed to site-specific differences in predation pressure. Evidence is given for both hereditary and environmental determination of variation in dorsal spine number.


1979 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-275
Author(s):  
David Chiszar ◽  
Karlana Carpen

1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Rychlak

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