Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
The concept of miniaturization states that as we go down the phylogenetic tree, species begin to become smaller in body size due to environmental pressures, especially within the Gymnophtalmoidea squamata. We question how the brain case morphology between different lizard species in the Gymnophtalmoidea squamata compares to one another when considering the differences in their body size. The brain cases of five lizard species were isolated using a 3D segmentation computer program, then reconstructed using an illustrator computer software and compared. The lizard studied includes one species from the Alopoglossidae family (Alopoglossus embera), one species from the Teiidae family (Dracaena guanensis), and three species from the Gymnophthalmidae family (Lepasoma hexalepis, Bachia pyburni, and Oreosaurus luctuosus). In general, every species’ brain case shape differs, but will also have structures that are very close in resemblance, except for some variation in the structure size and shape.
Publication Date
5-1-2022
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Le, Britney, "The Effects of Miniaturization on the Brain Case of Gymnopthalmodiea (Squamata)" (2022). 2022 Spring Honors Capstone Projects. 43.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/honors_spring2022/43