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Natural History Observations on the Indian Spiny-tailed Lizard Uromastyx hardwickii in the Thar Desert
Abstract
Members of the genus Uromastyx are a fascinating group of lizards which have successfully survived in a variety of arid microhabitats despite the challenges posed by extreme temperatures and sparse resources. This group is represented by a single species Uromastyx hardwickii on the Indian subcontinent. The largest population of Indian spiny-tailed lizards is found in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan principally within the western districts while smaller populations have been reported from western Gujarat. Locally known as the sanda, it was earlier hunted in large numbers for its meat and oil obtained from the fat (sanda ka tel). This species shelters in burrows that each lizard excavates for itself, and the burrows are usually found clustered together. It is uniquely herbivorous but little is known about this lizard. Here, we present our observations on the natural history of this species and summarize the available information. In addition, importance of the proposed Desert National Park in the conservation of desert fauna, particularly reptiles, has been discussed.
... In Pakistan, Uromastyx hardwickii is used in zootherapy. Uromastyx hardwickii is commonly called "Hardwicke's spiny-tailed lizard" or "Indian spiny-tailed lizard" and member of the family Agamidae [9]. It is a diurnal, ground-dwelling and herbivorous lizard that lives in burrows. ...
... It is a diurnal, ground-dwelling and herbivorous lizard that lives in burrows. It is found in Saharo-Sindic region of the Arabian Peninsula [9]. The flesh is consumed by some natives of Pakistan as a supplement for diabetic management [8]. ...
... The flesh is consumed by some natives of Pakistan as a supplement for diabetic management [8]. The oil obtained from the body fat is used as embrocation oil and aphrodisiac for the treatment of impotence by the natives of India and Pakistan [9]. The in vitro antidiabetic effects of the ethanol extract of U. hardwickii skin have been reported [10]. ...
Purpose: To investigate the in vivo hypoglycemic potential of the ethanol extract of Uromastyx hardwickii skin (EEUHS). Methods: Streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice received graded doses (100 and 200 mg/kg) of EEUHS for oral glucose tolerance and hypoglycemic test. The effects of EEUHS on body weight gain, urea, creatinine, cholesterol and hemoglobin concentration were also investigated. Result: The blood glucose concentrations of the EEUHS-treated groups were diminished (p < 0.05) relative to the diabetic control group. The urea, creatinine and cholesterol levels of the EEUHS-treated groups were lower (p < 0.05), but their hemoglobin concentrations were higher (p < 0.05) relative to the diabetic control group. Conclusion: The EEUHS elicits hypoglycemic effects and ameliorates complications of diabetes mellitus in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. This suggests that EEUHS can potentially be developed for the management of diabetic patients. This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest
... The Spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx acanthinura) is a threatened desert species that is confronted with various types of potential human disturbances in southern Tunisia, among which the most important are trapping by local natives for food, pet trade and medicine (Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013;M. Kechnebbou, pers. ...
... These lizards are active from the beginning of April (when lizards come out from hibernation) to the end of October. In this period, lizards are more active when air temperatures range from 30 to 48°C (Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013;M. Kechnebbou, pers. ...
... This finding may be explained by the social instability during the courtship and mating season that lasts for about three months, from March to May (Gray, 2001;Highfield and Slimani, 1998). During this season, males are competing for females and defending territories, and therefore expressing intense agonistic interactions of dominance among individuals (Miles et al., 2007;Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013). Males patrol certain patches and chase off other males if they approach the burrows within the patch. ...
Disturbances caused by roads or urbanization can have a significant impact on wildlife populations. However, it remains unclear whether these human activities can be stressors for wild populations of reptiles. We analyzed and compared plasma corticosterone and fecal corticosterone metabolites in male and female spiny tailed lizards (Uromastyx acanthinura) that were found at different distances from roads and urban areas in Tunisia (N. Africa). Levels of plasma corticosterone and fecal corticosterone metabolites of the same individuals measured with an enzyme immunoassay kit were highly and significantly correlated. This indicated that non-invasive measures of stress levels are equally useful for these types of studies. Males had higher plasma corticosterone than females, and these levels were higher in autumn than in summer and spring in both sexes. Moreover, levels of corticosterone in plasma and corticosterone metabolites in feces were significantly higher when the capture site was closer to roads or urban areas. These results suggest that the alteration of the natural habitat and the disruption caused by road traffic increase stress hormone levels in U. acanthinura lizards. Understanding how free-living animals are influenced by human perturbations could help direction and involvement of conservation strategies for endangered species.
... The lizard is known to occur in areas with slightly clayey to hard soil with sparse xerophytic vegetation (Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013;Sanjay et al., 2013). A few studies are available on the diet, using fecal pellet analysis and field observations on the foraging, of Uromastids from different parts of the world. ...
... The lizard's habitat was dominated by herbs: Chenopodium album, Fagonia cretica, Peganum hermala and grasses: Cynodon dactylon, Desmostachya bipinnata and Cymbopogon jwarancusa (Appendix 1). Available published studies also report that the species inhabits firm ground with moderate to sparse xerophytic vegetation such as Neurada procumbens, Dectyloctenium spp., Cynodon dactylon, Desmostachya bipinnata, Cenchrus biflorus, Cyperus rotundus, Haloxylon salicornicum, Lasiurus sindicus and Capparis decidua (Husain, 2012;Khan, 2006;Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013;Sanjay et al., 2013). These studies did not investigate if the lizard was more related to any vegetation type. ...
... We also recorded these plant species as most frequent along the sampled transects (Appendix 1). Ramesh and Sankaran (2013) reported that the lizard fed on flowers and fruits of Capparis aphylla (tree/shrub) and Salvadora persica (tree) and herbs Neurada procumbens and Barleria acanthoides in Thar Desert, India. We attributed this difference of vegetation species in the diet of the lizard due to difference of vegetation in the study areas. ...
The Spiny-tailed Lizard (Saara hardwickii) is widely recognized as a herbivore lizard inhabiting arid areas, but less is known about association of the lizard abundance with different vegetation type and lizard’s diet using stomach content flushing method. We conducted the present study to see relationship of woody and non-woody vegetation with
abundance of Spiny-tailed Lizard in Chakwal District, Punjab, Pakistan, and to see if proportions of food item species were similar in the samples of stomach contents and fecal samples. We found a weak significant relationship with woody vegetation cover (trees and shrubs) but relatively strong significant relationship with non-woody vegetation cover (herbs and grasses). Herbs such as Chenopodium album and Peganum hermala accounted for most of the volume and frequency in stomach content and fecal samples followed by grasses Cynodon dactylon and Desmostachya bipinnata. We found significant difference in the number of food item species recorded from the samples of stomach contents and fecal samples. We recorded Acacia modesta (tree) and Eruca sativa (herb) only from samples of stomach contents while Ziziphus nummularia (shrub) and Cymbopogon jwarancusa (grass) only from the fecal samples whereas the other food item species were the same. Of all the food items, only the proportion of Peganum hermala (herb) in the stomach content samples and fecal samples were different. We concluded that the lizard abundance was more related with non-woody vegetation than woody vegetation. The lizard did not selectively forage on the vegetation rather it fed on herbs and grasses common in its habitat and might have ingested insects incidentally. The stomach content flushing method is less tedious and yield similar result as that of a more robust fecal pellet analysis method. On contrary, fecal pellet analysis is relatively harmless while flushing the stomach contents may put the lizard under stress.
... It is the only herbivorous lizard species of India and currently distributed mainly in small fragmented populations in the dry areas of northwestern India i.e. the Thar desert of Rajasthan and Gujarat [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] . Recently, one small population of this species is reported from the Sariska National Park [23] , which at present is the only known population of this species in Rajasthan outside the Thar desert area. ...
... Recently, one small population of this species is reported from the Sariska National Park [23] , which at present is the only known population of this species in Rajasthan outside the Thar desert area. In India, there is a lack of intensive study on this species as all studies on it so far are either occasional observations or short term studies [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] . Due to lack of proper information on this species it has not been accessed by IUCN, though considered as Data Deficient Nationally [24,25] . ...
... Most importantly from MSA, all the sequences generated in this study found to be monomorphic. Since this species is conservation dependent and in India currently it exists in small pocket populations in northwestern part [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] , DNA sequence monomorphism suggests that there is an urgent need of conservation of this species in its present distribution in northwestern India. However, this cannot be completely ascertained from this study because of the small sample size and thus study with large sample size might be useful for more accurate population genetic analysis. ...
The present study was carried out from January to June 2016 in Rajasthan that aimed to sequence the 16S rRNA gene of S. hardwickii to trace genetic variation. Non-invasive molecular techniques were used to isolate DNA from fecal matter. The sequences were edited and assembled using SeqMan computer program, aligned with six global sequences following Clustal W algorithm to ascertain single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA v6.0 with 1000 bootstrap replicates. Multiple sequence alignment with global sequences showed single bp changes at four positions in Indian and two global samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed shared ancestry between Indian and these two global samples with indels at seven bp positions 126-128 (insertion) and 249-252 (deletion), and largely due to the movement of specimens involved in illegal trading. The study though short term, quite promising and revealed monomorphic nature of Indian isolates that suggests urgent conservation of the species in India.
... They are active from the beginning of April (when lizards come out from hibernation) to October. In this period, Uromastyx lizards are more active when air temperatures range from 30 to 48 • C (Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013;Kechnebbou et al., 2019b), and they can attain body temperatures of up to 30-40 • C (Berec et al., 2014). Although they have a high heat tolerance capacity, they resort to thermal shelters to avoid high temperatures and overheating (Huey et al., 2009;Sinervo et al., 2010). ...
... Such behaviors may reduce activity duration, foraging, and mating time, limiting growth and reproduction, increasing local extinction risk (Ceia-Hasse et al., 2014;Lara-Resendiz, 2015). Furthermore, the anthropogenic disturbances' expansion (i.e., poaching for food, medicinal uses, habitat degradation, and international pet trade; Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013;Kechnebbou et al., 2019a), combined with climate change and dispersal limitations (Wilms et al., 2011;Kechnebbou et al., 2020), are expected to exacerbate Uromastyx species declines. However, the impacts that environmental changes may have on the distribution of these lizards remain unknown. ...
Many species are expected to be at risk from climate change, whereas others may not be threatened because the projected change will occur within their physiological tolerance limits. Particularly, lizards of the genus Uromastyx, known for their narrow climatic and habitat requirements and limited dispersal abilities, might face local or global extinction due to current climate change. To address this problematic situation, we examined the potential effect of climate change on the distribution of 15 Uromastyx species (Merrem, 1820) using Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) under RCPs 2.6 and 8.5 emission scenarios for the year 2070. Here, we also tested the role of protected areas (PAs) in the conservation of Uromastyx species. According to our models, climate change could essentially threaten up to 75% of the studied species, while 25% of species may resist or even benefit from global warming. Furthermore, taxa with relatively broader distributions are more protected than taxa with smaller distributions suggesting that conservation efforts should be focused on a local scale. Future vulnerability assessment of individual species to climate change should consider integrating the physiological and behavioral plasticity of the taxa studied to allow mechanistic models to evaluate climate change effects on these species.
... The subfamily Uromasticinae are assigned to spiny-tailed lizards (Pyron et al. 2013), i.e., genus Uromastyx (sensu lato), which are small to medium-sized, ground-dwelling lizards distributed through desert habitats with high temperatures, low rainfall, and sparse vegetation from the African Sahara Desert to the Asian Thar Desert and across the Arabian Peninsula (Ramesh and Sankaran 2013;Wilms and Böhme 2007). The maximal body length of the species reportedly ranges between 25 and 50 cm, except for Uromastyx aegyptia group (sensu Wilms and Böhme 2007), which can extend up to or even more than 70 cm. ...
... Similarly, the higher RBC count is common in males of various reptile species (Campbell 2012). These differences provide an advantage for higher oxygen availability in males as needed for their behavioral differences; for example, males are territorial and defend access to several burrows; males expel other males if they approach burrows during the mating period; and males show increased physical activity during courtship and mating (Ramesh and Sankaran 2013). Similar differences have also been recorded in Leiolepis belliana rubritaeniata for RBC size, RBC count, and PCV. ...
Although the knowledge of morphometrics and hematology of reptiles in health has grown substantially in recent years, there are still knowledge gaps in many species and from different geographical regions. The objectives of this study were to document morphometrical measurements and hematological data of clinically healthy free-ranging adult Mesopotamian spiny-tailed lizards (Saara loricata), the Iraqi Mastigure or Iraqi spiny-tailed lizard, from Khuzestan Province, Iran, and to investigate sex differences in evaluated parameters. Although we did not observe any gender differences in morphometrical measurements, the visually larger genital pores of males allowed for differentiation of study animals into females (n = 6) and males (n = 5). We obtained femoral vein blood samples for hematological analysis, including detailed red blood cell (RBC) measurements, RBC count, packed cell volume (PCV), white blood cell (WBC) counts, and blood film review. Gender differences were identified in some RBC measurements, notably length and width of erythrocytes and nucleus width, as well as RBC and WBC counts. Gametocytes of hemogregarines varied from absent to frequent. The information presented herein will be useful for interpretative considerations of health assessment data for this species from Iran in comparison to data from the same and closely related species from other geographical regions.
... Current study provides baseline data of lens crystallins from a member of reptilian family, Uromastyx hardwickii which has huge evolutionary distance from human but it has an important position in evolutionary lineage. This lizard is diurnal, hibernating, grounddwelling animal and survives in all challenges of high temperature, arid area and limited diet resources (Ramesh and Sankaran, 2013). For survival, Uromastyx hardwickii is well adapted animal in all situations to cope with their surrounding environment pressures. ...
During last decade, proteomics has emerged as a powerful tool for high throughput screening, identification and quantification of proteins from biological samples. In current study, we have employed proteomics technique to explore proteins from eye lenses of Uromastyx hardwickii, an Indian spiny-tailed lizard. Water soluble and insoluble proteins from Uromastyx hardwickii lens were separated and characterized by 2-DE (two dimensional electrophoresis). After ingel digestion, well resolved spots were identified by nano-liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS). We have identified αA-, βA2-, βA4-, βB2-and βB3-crystallins as ubiquitous crystallins and δ-, τ-crystallins as taxon-specific lens crystallins in water soluble fraction. αA-and βB3-crystallins were found to be most abundant water soluble proteins in Uromastyx hardwickii lens. Among non-crystallins (cellular proteins), β-actin was identified. From water insoluble fraction, vimentin, gelsolin, gamma enolase like protein, filensin like protein and ATP synthase subunit B were identified. Our results illustrate advantage of proteomics technology for identification of lens proteins. Furthermore, the study provides distribution patterns of ubiquitous and taxon specific crystallins from Uromastyx hardwickii that is likely to be useful in understanding evolutionary lineage of this organism. © 2016, Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum. All rights reserved.
The lifestyle of extinct tetrapods is often difficult to assess when clear morphological adaptations such as swimming paddles are absent. According to the hypothesis of bone functional adaptation, the architecture of trabecular bone adapts sensitively to physiological loadings. Previous studies have already shown a clear relation between trabecular architecture and locomotor behavior, mainly in mammals and birds. However, a link between trabecular architecture and lifestyle has rarely been examined. Here, we analyzed trabecular architecture of different clades of reptiles characterized by a wide range of lifestyles (aquatic, amphibious, generalist terrestrial, fossorial, and climbing). Humeri of squamates, turtles, and crocodylians have been scanned with microcomputed tomography. We selected spherical volumes of interest centered in the proximal metaphyses and measured trabecular spacing, thickness and number, degree of anisotropy, average branch length, bone volume fraction, bone surface density, and connectivity density. Only bone volume fraction showed a significant phylogenetic signal and its significant difference between squamates and other reptiles could be linked to their physiologies. We found negative allometric relationships for trabecular thickness and spacing, positive allometries for connectivity density and trabecular number and no dependence with size for degree of anisotropy and bone volume fraction. The different lifestyles are well separated in the morphological space using linear discriminant analyses, but a cross‐validation procedure indicated a limited predictive ability of the model. The trabecular bone anisotropy has shown a gradient in turtles and in squamates: higher values in amphibious than terrestrial taxa. These allometric scalings, previously emphasized in mammals and birds, seem to be valid for all amniotes. Discriminant analysis has offered, to some extent, a distinction of lifestyles, which however remains difficult to strictly discriminate. Trabecular architecture seems to be a promising tool to infer lifestyle of extinct tetrapods, especially those involved in the terrestrialization. Linear discriminant analysis on the raw data with removal of two correlated trabecular variables. The analysis is performed on the five groups of lifestyle: aquatic (dark blue), amphibious (light blue), climbing (green), fossorial (brown) and terrestrial (gray). The picture at the top right is a 3D reconstruction (ventral view) of the proximal epiphysis and metaphysis of the humerus of Tiliqua scincoides (MNHN‐ZA‐AC‐1898‐285). The red circle represents the place of extraction of volume of interest, at the location where the pectoral process is the most developed.
A study of 20 Uromastyx aegyptius microlepis individuals during May and June 1999 in the United Arab Emirates, indicate that they are diurnal and emerge early in the morning with ambient temperatures around 30°C. Most time (% daylight hours) above ground is spent basking (13.8%), followed by foraging (4.6%) and then den clearing (0.4%). Individuals retreat underground for most of the day (81.2%) with only 18.8% of daylight hours spent on above ground activities. The lizard’s retreat underground with ambient temperatures around 40°C. Pennisetum divisum and Stipagrostis plumosa are extensively utilised by U. a. microlepis. A faecal analysis indicates the lack of insects in the diet, with only 1.2% of pellets containing insect remains.
We describe Uromastyx yemenensis sp. nov. from south-western Arabia, comprising two geographic subspecies, U. y. yemenensis and U. y. shobraki ssp. nov. The new species is a member of the Uromastyx ocellata species group, closely related to U. benti. It is differentiated from its sister taxon by smaller scales around midbody and smaller ventrals. The new species is restricted to the extreme south-western tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The western populations of U. yeme-nensis differ genetically and are constantly distinct in respect to their colour pattern and are therefore recognized as a subspecies.
We describe Uromastyx yemenensis sp. nov. from south-western Arabia, comprising two geographic subspecies, U. y. yemenensis and U. y. shobraki ssp. nov. The new species is a member of the Uromastyx ocellata species group, closely related to U. benti. It is differentiated from its sister taxon by smaller scales around midbody and smaller ventrals. The new species is restricted to the extreme south-western tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The western populations of U. yemenensis differ genetically and are constantly distinct in respect to their colour pattern and are therefore recognized as a subspecies.
A phylogenetic tree, based on albumin immunological distances, is presented for the Agamidae, with emphasis on the western genera. The Chamaeleonidae appear as the sister group of the Agamidae, which are monophyletic. Uromastyx and Leiolepis represent early sidebranches. The remaining agamids separated into a western and one or more eastern clades during the lower Tertiary. Within the western clade, Trapelus and Agama s.s. are monophyletic, but Stellio is diphyletic. The Palaearctic Stellio s.s. is the sister group of Phrynocephalus, whereas the Ethiopian Stellio atricollis group seems to be more closely related to Pseudotrapelus. Judging from branch lengths in the best fitting Wagner tree, a uniform average evolutionary rate of albumin can be attributed to most lineages, except Acanthosaura, Calotes, and Gonocephalus, which show a marked increase in their albumin evolution, and Uromastyx, which has a comparatively slowly evolving albumin.
The protein compositions of femoral gland secretions from 16 lizard species was compared using polacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Similarities between species were examined both with a reciprocal averaging ordination that grouped species according to secretion similarity, and using trees constructed by the Wagner parsimony method. Closely related species have secretions that are more similar than more distantly related species, although not all of the interspecific variation in secretion chemistry can be explained by phylogeny. Intraspecific variation in the secretions of Iguana iguana and Dipsosaurus dorsalis indicates that femoral gland secretions could be used in individual and sex recognition.
