A brief review of limb anomalies in lizards and presence of ectrodactily in Aspidoscelis costatus (Squamata: Teiidae)

Abstract

Whiptail lizards have been reported to survive serious wounds inflicted during collection by humans and failed predation attacks. Thus, it appears that these lizards can survive a variety of limb-specific injuries, though rapid movement is a key adaptation in many teiid lizards. We herein review the little-known subject of extremity abnormalities in lizards, stimulated in part by the discovery of the first profound naturally occurring limb anomaly among hundreds of lizards of the genera Aspidoscelis and Cnemidophorus (Family Teiidae, Order Squamata) examined from the Americas. It seems likely that such a severe impairment would negatively affect survival by reducing mobility; however, that assumption requires further study. Although we term the condition described herein as severe ectrodactyly within an adult female of Aspidoscelis costatus (Western México Whiptail), it is possible that the condition resulted from either a predation attempt or another environmental occurrence.