Viviparity imparts a macroevolutionary signature of ecological opportunity in the body size of female Liolaemus lizards

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 4966 - 10
• Main Authors: Domínguez-Guerrero, Saúl F., Esquerré, Damien, Burress, Edward D., Maciel-Mata, Carlos A., Alencar, Laura R. V., Muñoz, Martha M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.06.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158/851; 631/158/857; 631/181/2468; 631/443/494; Animals; Biological Evolution; Body Size; Colonization; Ecosystem; Evolution; Evolution & development; Female; Females; Habitats; Humanities and Social Sciences; Liolaemus; Lizards; Lizards - physiology; multidisciplinary; Oviparity; Phenotype; Phylogeny; Reptiles; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Species; Species diversity; Thermal environments; Viviparity; Viviparity, Nonmammalian - physiology
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49464-x

Viviparity evolved ~115 times across squamate reptiles, facilitating the colonization of cold habitats, where oviparous species are scarce or absent. Whether the ecological opportunity furnished by such colonization reconfigures phenotypic diversity and accelerates evolution is unclear. We investigated the association between viviparity and patterns and rates of body size evolution in female Liolaemus lizards, the most species-rich tetrapod genus from temperate regions. Here, we discover that viviparous species evolve ~20% larger optimal body sizes than their oviparous relatives, but exhibit similar rates of body size evolution. Through a causal modeling approach, we find that viviparity indirectly influences body size evolution through shifts in thermal environment. Accordingly, the colonization of cold habitats favors larger body sizes in viviparous species, reconfiguring body size diversity in Liolaemus . The catalyzing influence of viviparity on phenotypic evolution arises because it unlocks access to otherwise inaccessible sources of ecological opportunity, an outcome potentially repeated across the tree of life. Evolution of viviparity supports expansion into cold habitats. Here, the authors examine viviparity with patterns and rates of body size evolution in female Liolaemus lizards, finding that viviparous species are 20% larger with similar rates of evolution.