Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles?
Caudal autotomy is an adaptive, but costly, anti-predation strategy used by many lizard species. As predation risk varies with ontogenetic life stage, it can be predicted that the use of costly anti-predation mechanisms would also change if they are no longer required. Here we assess ontogenetic cha...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84087 |
| _version_ | 1848764617306669056 |
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| author | Barr, James Somaweera, R. Godfrey, S.S. Bateman, Bill |
| author_facet | Barr, James Somaweera, R. Godfrey, S.S. Bateman, Bill |
| author_sort | Barr, James |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Caudal autotomy is an adaptive, but costly, anti-predation strategy used by many lizard species. As predation risk varies with ontogenetic life stage, it can be predicted that the use of costly anti-predation mechanisms would also change if they are no longer required. Here we assess ontogenetic change in relative tail length and degree of caudal autotomy in the King's skink (Egernia kingii), a large skink endemic to Western Australia. We found that younger individuals invested more in relative tail length compared to older individuals, with younger individuals also having a higher degree of their tail consisting of regenerated tissue. This appears to reflect an ontogenetic shift in the risk of predation for this species, with larger, more mature individuals capable of actively defending themselves against certain predator types and therefore decreasing their reliance on a costly anti-predation strategy compared to juveniles. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:22:12Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-84087 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:22:12Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-840872021-07-06T05:00:58Z Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? Barr, James Somaweera, R. Godfrey, S.S. Bateman, Bill Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Evolutionary Biology autotomy lizard ontogeny predation Scincidae skink tail CAUDAL AUTOTOMY EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS BLUE TAILS BODY-SIZE LIZARD REGENERATION BEHAVIOR SNAKES DIET COLORATION Caudal autotomy is an adaptive, but costly, anti-predation strategy used by many lizard species. As predation risk varies with ontogenetic life stage, it can be predicted that the use of costly anti-predation mechanisms would also change if they are no longer required. Here we assess ontogenetic change in relative tail length and degree of caudal autotomy in the King's skink (Egernia kingii), a large skink endemic to Western Australia. We found that younger individuals invested more in relative tail length compared to older individuals, with younger individuals also having a higher degree of their tail consisting of regenerated tissue. This appears to reflect an ontogenetic shift in the risk of predation for this species, with larger, more mature individuals capable of actively defending themselves against certain predator types and therefore decreasing their reliance on a costly anti-predation strategy compared to juveniles. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84087 10.1093/biolinnean/bly196 English OXFORD UNIV PRESS unknown |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Evolutionary Biology autotomy lizard ontogeny predation Scincidae skink tail CAUDAL AUTOTOMY EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS BLUE TAILS BODY-SIZE LIZARD REGENERATION BEHAVIOR SNAKES DIET COLORATION Barr, James Somaweera, R. Godfrey, S.S. Bateman, Bill Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| title | Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| title_full | Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| title_fullStr | Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| title_short | Increased tail length in the King's skink, Egernia kingii (Reptilia: Scincidae): An anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| title_sort | increased tail length in the king's skink, egernia kingii (reptilia: scincidae): an anti-predation tactic for juveniles? |
| topic | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Evolutionary Biology autotomy lizard ontogeny predation Scincidae skink tail CAUDAL AUTOTOMY EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS BLUE TAILS BODY-SIZE LIZARD REGENERATION BEHAVIOR SNAKES DIET COLORATION |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84087 |