Evolution of lizard viviparity - Nature.com

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Analysis of oviparous and viviparous individuals of the common lizard reveals the genetic architecture of pregnancy.

Most research into live birth focuses on therian mammals — eutherian mammals and marsupials. But the body of literature exploring viviparity in squamate reptiles and fishes is growing rapidly. Concurrently, physiological similarities are being recognized between viviparous species and egg-laying animals with elaborate forms of parental care, such as the marsupial frogs and syngnathid fishes that brood their embryos in/on the body of the parent4. This research identifies a core set of functions that appears to be common to gestational tissues across taxa, in support of internally developing embryos, including adaptations to facilitate respiratory gas exchange, immune modulation to protect developing embryos from the parents' immune system, and in some cases, supply of nutrients through pregnancy (reviewed in ref. 5). These morphological and physiological similarities highlight the utility of a comparative approach in understanding how, and why, pregnancy evolves.

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Fig. 1: Evolution of viviparity in vertebrates.

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  1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia

    Camilla M. Whittington

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Correspondence to Camilla M. Whittington.

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Whittington, C.M. Evolution of lizard viviparity. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 1476–1477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01557-2

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