Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Intrapopulational variation in head shape correlates with soil structure heterogeneity in a head-first burrowing amphisbaenian, Trogonophis wiegmanni

Kirchner, M. ; Ortega, J. LU ; García-Roa, R. LU ; Müller, J. and Martín, J. (2025) In Journal of Zoology 326(2). p.130-139
Abstract

Morphological traits of animals have evolved to solve ecological requirements, the optimization of locomotion in each environment being one of the most frequent selective forces shaping morphology. Amphisbaenians are strictly fossorial reptiles that have evolved various snout shapes for burrowing head-first underground, yet the evolutionary and ecological origins of these different morphologies are little known. Here, we used a geometric morphometric approach to investigate head shape intrapopulational variation in the round-snouted checkerboard worm lizard (Trogonophis wiegmanni). We took 2D photographs of live animals in a North African island population. At each capture site, we also measured microhabitat characteristics and soil... (More)

Morphological traits of animals have evolved to solve ecological requirements, the optimization of locomotion in each environment being one of the most frequent selective forces shaping morphology. Amphisbaenians are strictly fossorial reptiles that have evolved various snout shapes for burrowing head-first underground, yet the evolutionary and ecological origins of these different morphologies are little known. Here, we used a geometric morphometric approach to investigate head shape intrapopulational variation in the round-snouted checkerboard worm lizard (Trogonophis wiegmanni). We took 2D photographs of live animals in a North African island population. At each capture site, we also measured microhabitat characteristics and soil compaction, and took soil samples to analyze soil physical structure. While we detected no signal of sexual dimorphism in head shape and overall head disparity was low, we found significant relationships between the head shape of T. wiegmanni and some characteristics of vegetation and soil. Relatively more tapered snouts and narrower heads occurred in sites with taller bushes and soils containing higher amounts of clay (i.e. harder substrates that are more difficult to excavate). We hypothesise that differences in head shape due to microhabitat and soil variation might be considered a scenario under which different amphisbaenian head morphologies initially evolved.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
amphisbaenians, burrowing, ecomorphology, geometric morphometrics, head morphology, microhabitat characteristics, soil structure, Trogonophis
in
Journal of Zoology
volume
326
issue
2
pages
130 - 139
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:86000656776
ISSN
0952-8369
DOI
10.1111/jzo.70008
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
833c0ff7-6425-43ab-adbf-bad46b6f9d51
date added to LUP
2025-06-25 12:33:56
date last changed
2025-07-01 14:52:19
@article{833c0ff7-6425-43ab-adbf-bad46b6f9d51,
  abstract     = {{<p>Morphological traits of animals have evolved to solve ecological requirements, the optimization of locomotion in each environment being one of the most frequent selective forces shaping morphology. Amphisbaenians are strictly fossorial reptiles that have evolved various snout shapes for burrowing head-first underground, yet the evolutionary and ecological origins of these different morphologies are little known. Here, we used a geometric morphometric approach to investigate head shape intrapopulational variation in the round-snouted checkerboard worm lizard (Trogonophis wiegmanni). We took 2D photographs of live animals in a North African island population. At each capture site, we also measured microhabitat characteristics and soil compaction, and took soil samples to analyze soil physical structure. While we detected no signal of sexual dimorphism in head shape and overall head disparity was low, we found significant relationships between the head shape of T. wiegmanni and some characteristics of vegetation and soil. Relatively more tapered snouts and narrower heads occurred in sites with taller bushes and soils containing higher amounts of clay (i.e. harder substrates that are more difficult to excavate). We hypothesise that differences in head shape due to microhabitat and soil variation might be considered a scenario under which different amphisbaenian head morphologies initially evolved.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kirchner, M. and Ortega, J. and García-Roa, R. and Müller, J. and Martín, J.}},
  issn         = {{0952-8369}},
  keywords     = {{amphisbaenians; burrowing; ecomorphology; geometric morphometrics; head morphology; microhabitat characteristics; soil structure; Trogonophis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{130--139}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of Zoology}},
  title        = {{Intrapopulational variation in head shape correlates with soil structure heterogeneity in a head-first burrowing amphisbaenian, Trogonophis wiegmanni}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jzo.70008}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/jzo.70008}},
  volume       = {{326}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}