| oswaldofilaria spp. (filarioidea, nematoda) in australian agamid lizards with a description of a new species and a redescription of o. chlamydosauri (breinl). | oswaldofilaria samfordensis n.sp. is described from physignathus lesueurii and a redescription of o. chlamydosauri (breinl, 1913) from chlamydosaurus kingii and amphibolurus barbatus is given. o. pflugfelderi (frank, 1964) is confirmed as a valid species. a key is added to separate the four australian species in the genus. gonocephalus boydii was recorded as a new host for o innisfailensis (mackerras, 1962). a survey involving fifty specimens of p. lesueurii from south queensland revealed that m ... | 1982 | 7125493 |
| molecular marker suggests rapid changes of sex-determining mechanisms in australian dragon lizards. | distribution of sex-determining mechanisms across australian agamids shows no clear phylogenetic segregation, suggesting multiple transitions between temperature-dependent (tsd) and genotypic sex determination (gsd). these taxa thus present an excellent opportunity for studying the evolution of sex chromosomes, and evolutionary transitions between tsd and gsd. here we report the hybridization of a 3 kb genomic sequence (pvzw3) that marks the z and w microchromosomes of the australian central bea ... | 2009 | 19172405 |
| the impact of invasive cane toads on native wildlife in southern australia. | commonly, invaders have different impacts in different places. the spread of cane toads (rhinella marina: bufonidae) has been devastating for native fauna in tropical australia, but the toads' impact remains unstudied in temperate-zone australia. we surveyed habitat characteristics and fauna in campgrounds along the central eastern coast of australia, in eight sites that have been colonized by cane toads and another eight that have not. the presence of cane toads was associated with lower faunal ... | 2015 | 26445649 |
| a framework for the identification of long-term social avoidance in longitudinal datasets. | animal sociality is of significant interest to evolutionary and behavioural ecologists, with efforts focused on the patterns, causes and fitness outcomes of social preference. however, individual social patterns are the consequence of both attraction to (preference for) and avoidance of conspecifics. despite this, social avoidance has received far less attention than social preference. here, we detail the necessary steps to generate a spatially explicit, iterative null model which can be used to ... | 2017 | 28879006 |
| physiological correlates of vagal nerve innervation in lower vertebrates. | in lower vertebrates, cardiac vagal innervation shows less anatomic complexity and specialization than in mammals. to assess the physiological development of vagal specialization in the vertebrates, we investigated cardiac chronotropic effects of electrical stimulation of left and right vagus nerves separately and the interactions between both nerves in anesthetized animals from three vertebrate groups, toad (bufo marinus), shark (heterodontus portusjacksoni), and lizard (physignathus lesueurii) ... | 1995 | 7771587 |
| comparability and repeatability of three commonly used methods for measuring endurance capacity. | measures of endurance (time to exhaustion) have been used to address a wide range of questions in ecomorphological and physiological research, as well as being used as a proxy for survival and fitness. swimming, stationary (circular) track running, and treadmill running are all commonly used methods for measuring endurance. despite the use of these methods across a broad range of taxa, how comparable these methods are to one another, and whether they are biologically relevant, is rarely examined ... | 2018 | 29457704 |
| susceptibility of eastern water dragons intellagama lesueurii lesueurii to bohle iridovirus. | ranaviruses infect and have been associated with mass mortality events in fish, amphibians and reptiles and are capable of interclass transmission. eastern water dragons (ewds), a semi-aquatic squamate, have an overlapping distribution with several species shown to be susceptible to bohle iridovirus (biv). however, this species has not been previously investigated, and no known mass mortalities have occurred in wild populations. here we report the experimental infection of juvenile ewds with biv ... | 2018 | 29384479 |
| archipelagos of the anthropocene: rapid and extensive differentiation of native terrestrial vertebrates in a single metropolis. | some of the best evidence for rapid evolutionary change comes from studies of archipelagos and oceanic islands. city parks are analogous systems as they create geographically isolated green spaces that differ in size, structure and complexity. very little, however, is known about whether city parks within a single urban centre drive selection and result in the diversification of native species. here, we provide evidence for the rapid genetic and morphological differentiation of a native lizard ( ... | 2017 | 28141911 |
| polyandry in dragon lizards: inbred paternal genotypes sire fewer offspring. | multiple mating in female animals is something of a paradox because it can either be risky (e.g., higher probability of disease transmission, social costs) or provide substantial fitness benefits (e.g., genetic bet hedging whereby the likelihood of reproductive failure is lowered). the genetic relatedness of parental units, particularly in lizards, has rarely been studied in the wild. here, we examined levels of multiple paternity in australia's largest agamid lizard, the eastern water dragon (i ... | 2015 | 25937911 |
| heightened aggression and winning contests increase corticosterone but decrease testosterone in male australian water dragons. | water dragons (intellegama [physignathus] lesueurii) are large (to >1m) agamid lizards from eastern australia. males are fiercely combative; holding a territory requires incessant displays and aggression against other males. if a dominant male is absent, injured or fatigued, another male soon takes over his territory. our sampling of blood from free-ranging adult males showed that baseline levels of both testosterone and corticosterone were not related to a male's social tactic (territorial vers ... | 2014 | 24907453 |
| a face in the crowd: a non-invasive and cost effective photo-identification methodology to understand the fine scale movement of eastern water dragons. | ectothermic vertebrates face many challenges of thermoregulation. many species rely on behavioral thermoregulation and move within their landscape to maintain homeostasis. understanding the fine-scale nature of this regulation through tracking techniques can provide a better understanding of the relationships between such species and their dynamic environments. the use of animal tracking and telemetry technology has allowed the extensive collection of such data which has enabled us to better und ... | 2014 | 24835073 |
| hatching and residual yolk internalization in lizards: evolution, function and fate of the amnion. | most egg-laying vertebrates hatch without depleting the entire yolk reserve. the residual yolk is internalized before emergence from the egg is completed and the yolk is subsequently metabolized during early neonatal life. here we provide the first description of the mechanism of yolk internalization in non-avian reptiles. we describe the hatching of two lizard species (physignathus lesueurii and varanus rosenbergii) and provide a step-by-step account of sequence of events leading to yolk intern ... | 2014 | 25098634 |
| aggressive transition between alternative male social tactics in a long-lived australian dragon (physignathus lesueurii) living at high density. | theory predicts the evolution of alternative male social tactics when intense competition coupled with the superior competitive ability of some individuals limits access to reproductive opportunities by others. how selection has shaped alternative social tactics may be especially interesting in long-lived species where size among sexually mature males varies markedly. we conducted experimental studies on long-lived eastern australian water dragons living where competition was intense to test the ... | 2012 | 22905109 |
| phylogeny of iguanian lizards inferred from 29 nuclear loci, and a comparison of concatenated and species-tree approaches for an ancient, rapid radiation. | iguanian lizards form a diverse clade whose members have been the focus of many comparative studies of ecology, behavior, and evolution. despite the importance of phylogeny to such studies, interrelationships among many iguanian clades remain uncertain. within the old world clade acrodonta, agamidae is sometimes found to be paraphyletic with respect to chamaeleonidae, and recent molecular studies have produced conflicting results for many major clades. within the largely new world clade pleurodo ... | 2011 | 21787873 |
| inclusions in the erythrocytes of eastern water dragons (physignathus lesueurii). | | 2001 | 11221573 |
| lectin-binding patterns in the olfactory system of the lizard, physignathus lesueurii. | lectin binding histochemistry was performed on the olfactory system of physignathus lesueurii to investigate the distribution and density of defined carbohydrate terminals on the cell-surface glycoproteins of the olfactory and vomeronasal receptor cells and their terminals in the olfactory bulbs. the lectin staining patterns indicate that the vomeronasal and olfactory receptor cells are characterized by glycoconjugates containing alpha-d-galactose and n-acetyl-d-glucosamine terminal residues. th ... | 2001 | 11124684 |
| in this issue - november 2018: anaesthesia standards of care · novel technique for patella luxation · high blood lead in captive tasmanian devils · baseline biochemical parameters in eastern water dragons · controlled-release devices for chromium and zinc in alpacas · magnetic resonance vs radiographic imaging in equine navicular bone partition · shunt morphology and surgical management in dogs. | | 2018 | 30370592 |
| fitness benefits of male dominance behaviours depend on the degree of individual inbreeding in a polyandrous lizard. | in polyandrous species, sexual selection extends beyond mating competition to selection for egg fertilization. as a result, the degree to which factors influencing mating success impact overall reproductive success becomes variable. here, we used a longitudinal behavioural and genetic dataset for a population of eastern water dragons (intellagama lesueurii) to investigate the degree to which male dominance, a pre-mating selection trait, influences overall reproductive success, measured as the nu ... | 2020 | 32429806 |
| city life alters the gut microbiome and stable isotope profiling of the eastern water dragon (intellagama lesueurii). | urbanisation is one of the most significant threats to biodiversity, due to the rapid and large-scale environmental alterations it imposes on the natural landscape. it is, therefore, imperative that we understand the consequences of and mechanisms by which, species can respond to it. in recent years, research has shown that plasticity of the gut microbiome may be an important mechanism by which animals can adapt to environmental change, yet empirical evidence of this in wild non-model species re ... | 2019 | 31495003 |
| individual variation in the social plasticity of water dragons. | individuals should alter when they socially associate with conspecifics to avoid potentially costly interactions. moreover, individuals may vary in their propensity to use information about conspecifics when making such social decisions. however, surprisingly little is known about either the determinants of or the individual variation in such "social plasticity." we show here that eastern water dragons (intellegama lesueurii lesueurii) may simultaneously use information from different components ... | 2019 | 31318290 |
| pathogenesis of bohle iridovirus (genus ranavirus) in experimentally infected juvenile eastern water dragons ( intellagama lesueurii lesueurii). | juvenile eastern water dragons ( intellagama lesueurii lesueurii) are highly susceptible to infection with bohle iridovirus (biv), a species of ranavirus first isolated from ornate burrowing frogs in townsville, australia. to investigate the progression of biv infection in eastern water dragons, 11 captive-bred juveniles were orally inoculated with a dose of 104.33 tcid50 and euthanized at 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 days postinfection (dpi). viral dna was detected via polymerase chain reaction (pcr ... | 2019 | 30686212 |
| baseline morphometric, haematological and plasma biochemical parameters in free-ranging eastern water dragons (intellagama lesueurii lesueurii). | the aim of this study was to determine baseline reference data for morphometric measurements and haematological and plasma biochemical parameters in clinically healthy eastern water dragons (intellagama lesueurii lesueurii), accounting for the variables of season and sex. the clinical objective was to provide clinicians and researchers with baseline reference intervals (ris) in order to assess accurately the health of a population or individual animals. | 2018 | 30370595 |