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Research Article
Pedro Coelho
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
Corresponding Author
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background
Ecomorphs create the opportunity to investigate ecological adaptation because they encompass organisms that evolved characteristic morphologies under similar ecological demands. For over 50 years, scorpions have been empirically assigned to ecomorphs based on the characteristic morphologies that rock, sand, vegetation, underground, and surface dwellers assume. This study aims to independently test the existence of scorpion ecomorphs by quantifying the association between their morphology and ecology across 61 species, representing 14 families of the Scorpiones order.
Results
Without a priori categorization of species into ecomorphs, we identified four groups based on microhabitat descriptors, which reflect how scorpion ecospace is clustered. Moreover, these microhabitat groups, i.e. ecotypes, have significantly divergent morphologies; therefore, they represent ecomorphs. These ecomorphs largely correspond with the ones previously described in the literature. Therefore, we retained the names Lithophilous, Psammophilous, and Pelophilous, and proposed the name Phytophilous for vegetation dwellers. Finally, we sought to map the morphology-ecology association in scorpions. We provide evidence that the morphological regions most tightly associated with ecology are the walking legs and pedipalps. Moreover, the major trend in ecomorphological covariation is that longer walking legs and relatively slender pedipalps (pincers) are associated with sandy microhabitats, while the inverse morphological proportions are associated with rocky microhabitats.
Conclusions
Scorpion ecomorphs are validated in a naïve approach, from ecological descriptors and whole body anatomy. This places them on a more solid quantitative footing for future studies of ecological adaptation in scorpions. Our results verify some of the previously defined ecomorphotypes and can be used as a starting point to understand the adaptive significance of ecological morphology.
Keywords
ecomorphological diversity, scorpions, microhabitat, ecomorphology
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
No competing interests reported.
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- SupplementaryTable1Measurementsabbreviationsexplanation.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable2Microhabitatvariablesmorphologicalmeasurements.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable3PairwisecomparisonsLSmeans.docx
- SupplementaryTable4PLSloadings.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable5Phylogeneticsignal.xlsx
- SupplementaryFigure1Measurementsillustration.pdf
- SupplementaryFigure3MCAwithcategories.pdf
- SupplementaryFigure2BICclusters.pdf
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CURRENT STATUS: Under Review
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Received 22 Nov, 2021
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On 06 Nov, 2021
Editor invited
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On 29 Oct, 2021
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Subject Areas
Evolutionary Biology
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This preprint is under consideration at BMC Ecology and Evolution. A preprint is a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Learn more about In Review
Research Article
Pedro Coelho
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
Corresponding Author
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
Peer Review Timeline
CURRENT STATUS: Under Review
Version 1
Posted 01 Nov, 2021
No community comments so far
Reviews received
Received 22 Nov, 2021
Reviewers agreed
On 06 Nov, 2021
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 06 Nov, 2021
Editor assigned
On 06 Nov, 2021
Editor invited
On 29 Oct, 2021
Submission checks complete
On 29 Oct, 2021
First submitted
On 25 Oct, 2021
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
Evolutionary Biology
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background
Ecomorphs create the opportunity to investigate ecological adaptation because they encompass organisms that evolved characteristic morphologies under similar ecological demands. For over 50 years, scorpions have been empirically assigned to ecomorphs based on the characteristic morphologies that rock, sand, vegetation, underground, and surface dwellers assume. This study aims to independently test the existence of scorpion ecomorphs by quantifying the association between their morphology and ecology across 61 species, representing 14 families of the Scorpiones order.
Results
Without a priori categorization of species into ecomorphs, we identified four groups based on microhabitat descriptors, which reflect how scorpion ecospace is clustered. Moreover, these microhabitat groups, i.e. ecotypes, have significantly divergent morphologies; therefore, they represent ecomorphs. These ecomorphs largely correspond with the ones previously described in the literature. Therefore, we retained the names Lithophilous, Psammophilous, and Pelophilous, and proposed the name Phytophilous for vegetation dwellers. Finally, we sought to map the morphology-ecology association in scorpions. We provide evidence that the morphological regions most tightly associated with ecology are the walking legs and pedipalps. Moreover, the major trend in ecomorphological covariation is that longer walking legs and relatively slender pedipalps (pincers) are associated with sandy microhabitats, while the inverse morphological proportions are associated with rocky microhabitats.
Conclusions
Scorpion ecomorphs are validated in a naïve approach, from ecological descriptors and whole body anatomy. This places them on a more solid quantitative footing for future studies of ecological adaptation in scorpions. Our results verify some of the previously defined ecomorphotypes and can be used as a starting point to understand the adaptive significance of ecological morphology.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
No competing interests reported.
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- SupplementaryTable1Measurementsabbreviationsexplanation.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable2Microhabitatvariablesmorphologicalmeasurements.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable3PairwisecomparisonsLSmeans.docx
- SupplementaryTable4PLSloadings.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable5Phylogeneticsignal.xlsx
- SupplementaryFigure1Measurementsillustration.pdf
- SupplementaryFigure3MCAwithcategories.pdf
- SupplementaryFigure2BICclusters.pdf
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