Tejero Cicuéndez, HectorMenéndez González, IrisTalavera, AdriánMochales Riaño, GabrielBurriel Carranza, BernatSimó Riudalbas, MarcCarranza, SalvadorAdams, Dean C2025-06-182025-06-182023Héctor Tejero-Cicuéndez, Iris Menéndez, Adrián Talavera, Gabriel Mochales-Riaño, Bernat Burriel-Carranza, Marc Simó-Riudalbas, Salvador Carranza, Dean C Adams, Evolution along allometric lines of least resistance: morphological differentiation in Pristurus geckos, Evolution, Volume 77, Issue 12, December 2023, Pages 2547–2560, https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpad1660014-382010.1093/evolut/qpad166https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/121486This work was funded in part by PGC2018-098290-B-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades/Agencia Estatal de Investigación/FEDER, UE) and PID2021-128901NB-I00 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by European Regional Development Fund, a way of making Europe), Spain to S.C. H.T.C. is supported by a “Juan de la Cierva—Formación” postdoctoral fellowship (FJC2021-046832-I). I.M. was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a Humboldt Research Fellowship, and partially funded by the project PID2022-138275NB-I00 granted by FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades-Agencia Estatal de Investigación. A.T. is supported by the “la Caixa” doctoral fellowship program (LCF/BQ/DR20/11790007). G.R. was funded by an FPI grant from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain (PRE2019-088729). B.B.C. was funded by an FPU grant from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain (FPU18/04742). D.C.A. was funded in part by the National Science Foundation Grant (DBI-1902511).Species living in distinct habitats often experience unique ecological selective pressures, which can drive phenotypic divergence. However, how ecophenotypic patterns are affected by allometric trends and trait integration levels is less well understood. Here we evaluate the role of allometry in shaping body size and body form diversity in Pristurus geckos utilizing differing habitats. We found that patterns of allometry and integration in body form were distinct in species with different habitat preferences, with ground-dwelling Pristurus displaying the most divergent allometric trend and high levels of integration. There was also strong concordance between intraspecific allometry across individuals and evolutionary allometry among species, revealing that differences in body form among individuals were predictive of evolutionary changes across the phylogeny at macroevolutionary scales. This suggested that phenotypic evolution occurred along allometric lines of least resistance, with allometric trajectories imposing a strong influence on the magnitude and direction of size and shape changes across the phylogeny. When viewed in phylomorphospace, the largest rock-dwelling species were most similar to the smallest ground-dwelling species, and vice versa. Thus, in Pristurus, phenotypic evolution along the differing habitat-based allometric trajectories resulted in similar body forms at differing body sizes in distinct ecological habitats.engjournal article1558-5646https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpad166https://academic.oup.com/evolut/article/77/12/2547/7277064?login=truerestricted access598.112591.4591.3AllometryIntegrationHabitatBody shapeEcological specializationLizardsEvoluciónZoología2401.16 Herpetología2401.01 Anatomía Animal2401 Biología Animal (Zoología)