The Italian wall lizard or ruin lizard (''Podarcis siculus'', from the Greek meaning agile and feet) is a species of

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia al ...

in the family

Lacertidae The Lacertidae are the family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at least 300 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group of reptiles found i ...

. ''P. siculus'' is native to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

, and Switzerland, but has also been introduced to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. It is the most abundant lizard species in southern Italy. ''P. siculus'' is a habitat generalist and can thrive in natural and human-modified environments. Similarly, ''P. siculus'' has a generalized diet as well, allowing it to have its large range. ''P. siculus'' is notable for having many subspecies within its large range. Studies evidence how rapidly ''P. siculus'' subspecies can become distinguishable from larger populations given geographic isolation. A 2008 study detailed distinct morphological and behavioral changes in a ''P. siculus'' population indicative of "rapid

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

". ''P. siculus'' is a sexually dimorphic lizard species whose physical description varies across its subspecies, but it generally has a green or brown back and white or green belly. It is also oviparous, meaning females lay their young in eggs, and they lay 3 or 4 clutches per year.

Physical description

The

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the mos ...

of ''P. siculus'' is on average. ''P. siculus'' is characterized by a green or brown back with a white or green belly. There is variation in length and color diversity due to the many subspecies and populations of ''P. siculus.'' For example, some subspecies are melanic, meaning that parts of the back and belly have hints of blue. Such coloration is found on island populations of ''P. siculus'' rather than continental populations.Dipineto L, Raia P, Varriale L, et al. (2018). "Bacteria and parasites in ''Podarcis sicula'' and ''P. sicula klemmerii'' ". ''BMC Veterinary Research'' 14 (1): 392. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-018-1708-5 Head size is a

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

trait, with males having larger heads and stronger jaws than females. It is hypothesized that this size difference is due in part to prey consumption needs in males and male-male aggression.Taverne M, Fabre A-C, King-Gillies N, et al. (2019). "Diet variability among insular populations of ''Podarcis'' lizards reveals diverse strategies to face resource-limited environments". ''Ecology and Evolution'' 9 (22): 12408–12420. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5626

Range

''P. siculus'' is native to Italy and is one of the most common lizards found in the nation. Its range also includes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Switzerland. ''P. siculus'' has also been introduced to Spain, Turkey, and multiple sites in the United States.Crnobrnja-Isailovic J, Vogrin M, Corti C, Pérez Mellado V, Sá-Sousa P, Cheylan M, Pleguezuelos J, Sindaco R, Romano A, Avci A (2009). "''Podarcis siculus'' (errata version published in 2016)". ''The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species'' 2009: e.T61553A86151752. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T61553A12515189.en. Downloaded on 31 October 2021

Habitat and ecology

''P. siculus'' is a habitat generalist and thrives in many natural and human-modified environments. Habitats of ''P. siculus'' include

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It ...

s, rocky areas, and

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

.Corti, Claudia; Biaggini, Marta; Berti, Roberto (2009). "Different habitats, different pressures? Analysis of escape behaviour and ectoparasite load in ''Podarcis sicula'' (Lacertidae) populations in different agricultural habitats". ''Amphibia-Reptilia'' 30 (4): 453-461. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853809789647068 Web. It is able to live in such open habitats due to biological characteristics, such as high thermophily, which is the ability to thrive in high temperatures.

Diet

''P. siculus'' is a generalist

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

. Its diet consists of a wide variety of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s, mainly

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s. ''P. siculus'' predates on small

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...

s as well.Bonacci, Teresa; Capula, Massimo; Brandmayr, Tullia Zetto; Brandmayr, Pietro; Aloise, Gaetano (2008). "Testing the predatory behaviour of ''Podarcis sicula'' (Reptilia: Lacertidae) towards aposematic and non-aposematic preys". ''Amphibia-Reptilia'' 29: 449-453. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853808785111986 Web. Plant matter comprises a much greater percentage of the diet of ''P. siculus'' than other related lizards. There is also a disparity in diet diversity between the sexes, with males having a more diverse diet than females. Contrary to common ecological thought, there is little relationship between habitat area and diet diversity for ''P. siculus''. Different levels of taxonomic prey diversity does not seem to affect the diversity of diets in different ''P. siculus'' populations, but insular populations of ''P. siculus'' do consume a greater percentage of plant matter as a part of their diet.

Predation

Predators of ''P. siculus'' include

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, and

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s.Rocha, Iolanda. "''Podarcis Sicula''". ''Invasive Species Compendium'', https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/68192#tosummaryOfInvasiveness.

Reproduction

''P. siculus'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...

. Females can lay 3 or 4 clutches of 4-7 eggs per year.Downes S, Bauwens D (2002). "Does reproductive state affect a lizard's behavior toward predator chemical cues?". ''Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology'' ''52'' (6): 444–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-002-0538-3 The number of eggs laid per clutch does vary by population. For example, populations on small islands of Croatia lay fewer eggs that hatch into larger offspring. The reproductive season of ''P. siculus'' begins in May and ends in July. Gravidity does not impose major physical burden upon females.

Gravid In biology and human medicine, gravidity and parity are the number of times a woman is or has been pregnant (gravidity) and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age (parity). These terms are usually coupled, sometimes with additional t ...

females engage in more basking behavior than their non-gravid counterparts. The activity of

P450 Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) are a superfamily of enzymes containing heme as a cofactor that functions as monooxygenases. In mammals, these proteins oxidize steroids, fatty acids, and xenobiotics, and are important for the clearance of various compo ...

in the

brain The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head ( cephalization), usually near organs for special ...

of male ''P. siculus'' differs based on the reproductive stage of the individual. Importantly, P450 localizes to parts of the brain involved in reproductive and behavioral regulation. Thus, P450 is implied in the regulation of sexual behavior in ''P. siculus.''

Disease

Parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

and

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

are common among ''P. siculus'' and its various subspecies. Common bacterial species include ''

Pantoea ''Pantoea'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria of the family Erwiniaceae The ''Erwiniaceae'' are a family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage o ...

'', ''

Citrobacter ''Citrobacter'' is a genus of Gram-negative coliform bacteria in the family Enterobacteriaceae. The species ''C. amalonaticus'', ''C. koseri'', and ''C. freundii'' can use citrate as a sole carbon source. ''Citrobacter'' species are differentia ...

'', ''

Morganella morganii ''Morganella morganii'' is a species of Gram-negative bacteria.eMedicineMorganella infections/ref> It has a commensal relationship within the intestinal tracts of humans, mammals, and reptiles as normal flora. Although ''M. morganii'' has a wide ...

'', ''

Pseudomonas aeruginosa ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' is a common encapsulated, gram-negative, aerobic– facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium that can cause disease in plants and animals, including humans. A species of considerable medical importance, ''P. aer ...

,''

Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci ''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical ( cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. ''Staphylococcus'' species are facultative ...

, ''

Enterobacter ''Enterobacter'' is a genus of common Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is the type genus of the order Enterobacterales. Several strains of these bacteria are pa ...

, E. coli, Schewanella,'' and '' Providencia''. When tested, one out of ten isolated strains of ''Citrobacter'' were multidrug-resistant. Other isolated strains were antibiotic resistant as well. Parasite species include pinworms, '' Ophionyssus natricus,''

coccidia Coccidia (Coccidiasina) are a subclass of microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled obligate intracellular parasites belonging to the apicomplexan class Conoidasida. As obligate intracellular parasites, they must live and reproduce within an ...

, and '' Dicrocoelidae''. Some of the bacteria and parasites specific to continental populations of ''P. siculus'' have been identified to be

zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...

. Insular populations of ''P. siculus'' have similar levels of bacterial diversity to mainland populations.

Tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...

infestation of ''P. siculus'' can be common in man-made habitats. Tick infestation is generally more pronounced in large males, which may be a result of their increased home ranges. Tick load varies based on the type of environment that ''P. siculus'' inhabits. For example, females inhabiting traditionally-managed olive plantations have significantly higher tick loads than those residing in intensively-managed olive plantations.

Behavior

Feeding

''P. siculus'' has a strong preference for the consumption of non-conspicuous prey.

Conspicuous coloration {{Short pages monitor

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1641251 Reptiles described in 1810 Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Podarcis Articles containing video clips Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Lizards of Europe Reptiles as pets