Body lifting, flattening, and burying of Tropidurus catalanensis Gudynas & Skuk, 1983 (Squamata, Tropiduridae): Defense, thermoregulation, or both?

Thiago Maia-Carneiro and Carlos Arturo Navas

Abstract
Lizards of the genus Tropidurus display different behaviors for defense and thermoregulation. Here, we report displays not yet known for Tropidurus catalanensis, which helps to understand how these lizards behave. Individuals held in captivity lifted, flattened, and buried their bodies. Flattening and upstanding the bodies allow looking larger and may discourage attacks, as well as respectively enhance and decrease the approximation and the contact of body surfaces with substrates to thermoregulate. Burying themselves into earth and sand may help lizards to avoid or escape from menaces. When we opened the containers and could see the T. catalanensis, they were already partially covered by vermiculite, which did not allow stating if they did it in response to supposed risks of predation because perceived the movements in the room before the containers were opened or were already buried. T. catalanensis may bury themselves to avoid detection during periods of inactivity. The self-burying behavior may be useful also for thermoregulation using substrate temperatures. T. catalanensis may increase the chances of getting out safe from dangerous interactions and of effective thermoregulation by performing such behaviors. Although we discussed the behaviors on the views of defense and thermoregulation, the context suggested that they happened for defense.

Keywords
Behavior; Defensive behavior; Self-burying; Thermoregulation; Tropidurinae.

DOI
10.21472/bjbs(2020)071709

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