School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.
Sciences Department, Museums Victoria, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton Gardens, VIC, 3053, Australia.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2021 Feb;96(1):289-309. doi: 10.1111/brv.12656. Epub 2020 Oct 8.
Colour polymorphic species are model systems for examining the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain discrete phenotypic variation in natural populations. Lizards have repeatedly evolved strikingly similar polymorphic sexual signals in distantly related lineages, providing an opportunity to examine convergence and divergence in colour polymorphism, correlated traits and associated evolutionary processes. Herein, we synthesise the extensive literature on lizard colour polymorphisms in both sexes, including recent advances in understanding of the underlying biochemical, cellular and genetic mechanisms, and correlated behavioural, physiological and life-history traits. Male throat, head or ventral colour morphs generally consist of red/orange, yellow and white/blue morphs, and sometimes mixed morphs with combinations of two colours. Despite these convergent phenotypes, there is marked divergence in correlated behavioural, physiological and life-history traits. We discuss the need for coherence in morph classification, particularly in relation to 'mixed' morphs. We highlight future research directions such as the genetic basis of convergent phenotypes and the role of environmental variation in the maintenance of polymorphism. Research in this very active field promises to continue to provide novel insights with broad significance to evolutionary biologists.
变色多态性物种是研究在自然种群中产生和维持离散表型变异的进化过程的模型系统。蜥蜴在亲缘关系较远的谱系中反复进化出惊人相似的多态性性信号，为研究颜色多态性、相关特征和相关进化过程的趋同和分歧提供了机会。本文综合了两性蜥蜴颜色多态性的大量文献，包括对潜在生化、细胞和遗传机制以及相关行为、生理和生活史特征的理解的最新进展。雄性喉咙、头部或腹部颜色形态通常由红色/橙色、黄色和白色/蓝色形态组成，有时还有两种颜色混合的混合形态。尽管存在这些趋同的表型，但相关的行为、生理和生活史特征却存在明显的分歧。我们讨论了形态分类的一致性的必要性，特别是在“混合”形态方面。我们强调了未来的研究方向，例如趋同表型的遗传基础以及环境变异在多态性维持中的作用。这一非常活跃的研究领域的研究有望继续为进化生物学家提供具有广泛意义的新见解。
