干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The morphometric analysis suggested an invasion-structured pattern, with two distinct groups of species in the community: the "ground-runners", composed of animals with robust bodies and long limbs, represented by Tropidurus torquatus (Wied, 1820), Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758), Liolaemus lutzae Mertens, 1938, Cnemidophorus littoralis Rocha, Araujo, Vrcibradic 81 Costa, 2000 and Tupinambis merianae (Dumeril 81 Bibron, 1839); and the "hiders", composed of small-bodied animals with short limbs, represented by Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnes,1818), Gymnodactylus darwinii (Gray, 1845), Mabuya agilis (Raddi,1823) and M. macrorhyncha Hoge,1947. The morphological relationships within the restinga lizard community reflect the influence of the habitat physical structure: bromeliad availability and other refugia, used by the "hiders", and the distribution of open areas, used by the "ground-runners". Our results also indicate that the restingas hold "ecomorphological spaces" (vacant niches) available for occupation by additional lizard species.