Functional and ecological correlates of ecologically-based dimorphisms in squamate reptiles

Sexual dimorphism in phenotypic traits associated with the useof resources is a widespread phenomenon throughout the animalkingdom. While ecological dimorphisms are often initially generatedby sexual selection operating on an animal's size, natural selectionis believed to maintain, or even amplify, these dimorphismsin certain ecological settings. The trophic apparatus of snakeshas proven to be a model system for testing the adaptive natureof ecological dimorphisms because head size is rarely undersexual selection and it limits the maximum ingestible size ofprey in these gape-limited predators. Significantly less attentionhas been paid to the evolution of ecological dimorphisms inlizards, however, which may be due to the fact that lizards’feeding apparatus can be under both sexual and natural selectionsimultaneously, making it difficult to formulate clear-cut hypothesesto distinguish between the influences of natural and sexualselection. In order to tease apart the respective influencesof natural selection and sexual selection on the feeding apparatusof squamates, we take an integrative approach to formulate twohypotheses for snakes and lizards, respectively: (1) For gape-limitedsnakes, we predict that natural selection will act to generatedifferences in maximum gape, which will translate into differencesin maximum ingestible prey size between the sexes. (2) For lizardswhich mechanically reduce their prey, we predict that the degreeof dimorphism in head size should be positively correlated tothe degree of dimorphism in bite force which, in turn, shouldbe correlated to dimorphism in aspects of size or hardness ofprey. Finally, we predict that functional differences in thefeeding apparatus of these animals will also be linked withdifferences in sex-based feeding behavior and with selectionof prey.