Sympatric competitors have driven the evolution of temporal activity patterns in Cnemaspis geckos in Southeast Asia

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 27
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Hung Ngoc, Hung, Chih-Ming, Yang, Ming-Yuan, Lin, Si-Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.01.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/23; 631/158/857; 631/181/2468; 631/181/757; Activity patterns; Adaptation, Physiological; Animal Distribution; Animals; Asia, Southeastern; Biodiversity; Biological Evolution; Competition; Cyrtodactylus; Diel activity; Diurnal; Ecosystem; Evolution; Habitat utilization; Habitats; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lizards - classification; Lizards - physiology; multidisciplinary; Niches; Nocturnal; Phenotype; Phylogeny; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Species; Sympatric populations; Sympatry; Sympatry - physiology; Asia, Southeastern; Southeast Asia

It is often assumed that animals’ temporal activity patterns are highly conserved throughout evolution. While most geckos are nocturnal, the species in the Cnemaspis genus are mostly diurnal (only a few are nocturnal). This raises a question about the evolution of a diel niche in the Cnemaspis genus...