Record Details

Asplund, Kenneth K
Ecology of lizards in the relictual cape flora, Baja California
The American Midland Naturalist
1967
Journal Article
77
2
462-475
Ctenosaura hemilopha;Dipsosaurus dorsalis;Dipsosaurus dorsalis lucasensis
Food habits, reproduction, and habitats were studied for 13 species of lizards in the Cape Region of Baja California in August, 1964. The flora of this area appears to be related to the Sierra Madrean woodland and the Madro-Tertiary geoflora. In August and September tropical oceanic cyclones bring rain to this region, increasing the amount of available water, shade, and food. In August, 1964, individual lizards of five species were in breeding condition, and hatchlings of six other species were seen. Peculiarities of the peninsular climate and geography may have been factors in deriving (from subtropical species) some forms that now inhabit the western portion of the Sonoran Desert, which lacks summer monsoons. In southern California, lizards that hatch in the summer do not encounter a season of relatively high productivity until spring of the following year. Lizards living in the southwest during the Miocene may have been relatively generalized in habitat occurrence, and became restricted to fractions of their previous niches while the components of the Madro-Tertiary geoflora segregated into present-day communities. Lizards of several species (or species complexes) appear to be less restricted in habitat occurrence in the Cape than in more xeric habitats peripheral to and within the Sonoran Desert.
English