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Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals as big as water buffalo. Lizards make use of a variety of antipredator adaptations, including venom, camouflage, reflex bleeding, and the ability to sacrifice and regrow their tails.
In most Cnemidophorus lizards, the colors of dominant males tend to become somewhat more vibrant during the mating season. However, C. arubensis exhibits a distinct difference in this regard. During the mating season, which occurs from September to October, mature male C. arubensis lizards undergo a transformation. They become intensely blue ...
These lizards display morphological adaptations to specific microhabitats. [2] They occupy rock crevices and decaying plants. Rock dwellers generally have brighter coloration, longer limbs and digits, and larger size than plant dwellers, which are generally duller, smaller, and have shorter limbs.
Burton's legless lizard has significant morphological adaptations to enable it to deal with large struggling prey items. [9] The first adaptation is a skull with an elongated snout that may, along with its pointed, recurved and hinged teeth, be an adaptation that assists it to grip its prey. [ 16 ]
Another adaptation associated with intravertebral autotomy is that skin flaps fold over the wound at the site of autotomy to readily seal the wound, which can minimize infection at the autotomy site. [19] Caudal autotomy is prevalent among lizards; it has been recorded in 13 of approximately 20 families. [20]
Ocular autohemorrhaging has also been documented in other lizards, [7] which suggests blood-squirting could have evolved from a less extreme defense in the ancestral branch of the genus. Recent phylogenic research supports this claim, so the species incapable of squirting blood apparently have lost the adaptation for reasons yet unstudied. [8]
Marine iguanas are not always black; the young have a lighter coloured dorsal stripe, and some adult specimens are grey. Dark tones allow the lizards to rapidly absorb heat to minimize the period of lethargy after emerging from the water. The marine iguana lacks agility on land but is a graceful swimmer.
Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semiaquatic life in a marine environment. Only about 100 of the 12,000 extant reptile species and subspecies are classed as marine reptiles, including marine iguanas , sea snakes , sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles .