The Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus, along the Tuscanian coast of central Italy: biometrical features, and phenotypic patterns.

Abstract

The Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus, has a wide distribution. However, information on several aspects of its ecology and biology are scarce, and relate mainly to insular populations. This paper describes the main morphological features of 123 individuals along a geographical gradient (five localities) in northwestern Tuscany (central Italy). Our results show a strong sexual dimorphism in most of the considered parameters, high geographic variation, low interaction between sex and locality and a similar distribution of external parasite load and tail autotomy between the sexes