Title
Variation in and distribution of the unisexual lizard, Cnemidophorus tesselatus
Title Variants
Alternative:
Unisexual lizard
Related Titles
Series:
American Museum novitates, no. 2235
By
Zweifel, Richard George, 1926-2019
Type
Book
Material
Published material
Publication info
New York, N.Y American Museum of Natural History [1965]
Notes
Title from caption.
"October 29, 1965."
"Cnemidophorus tesselatus is a species of lizard in which males are virtually absent. Hence, reproduction presumably is parthenogenetic. Variation of the species as a whole is similar to that of bisexual forms, but samples of local populations of tesselatus show greatly restricted variation in color pattern and scutellation in comparison to similar samples of the bisexual form C. tigris. Presumably this restriction results from the great reduction in recombination that is a consequence of unisexual reproduction. Five allopatric classes of color pattern are recognized in tesselatus. Populations of a sixth class occur in two widely separated areas, in each of which they are sympatric with another class. Differences in scutellation correlate with differences in color pattern of sympatric populations, indicating that two genetically distinct clonal lines coexist. The most widespread color-pattern class is relatively uniform in scutellation over a wide geographic area, whereas populations with more restricted geographic distributions tend to differ, in some cases markedly, from locality to locality. Differences in scutellation and color pattern among populations of tesselatus are similar to those that distinguish subspecies in bisexual species of Cnemidophorus. However, complications introduced by sympatric clones and discordant variation render the recognition of subspecies impractical in the unisexual species. Retention of all the populations within one species is recommended as best exemplifying their relationships, even though gene exchange between parthenogenetic populations manifestly is impossible"--P. 41.
Subjects
59.81.1C
,
Cnemidophorus tesselatus
,
Lizards
,
Mexico
,
Parthenogenesis in animals
,
Reptiles
,
Southwestern States
Call Number
QL1 .A436 no.2235, 1965
Language
English
Identifiers
OCLC:
31839463
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