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Lizards of the World: Natural History and Taxon Accounts. G. R. Rodda. 2020. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9781421438238. 801 p. $150.00 (hardcover).- Lizards have proven to be outstanding models for ecological and evolutionary studies of tetrapod vertebrates, partly because they are diverse, often abundant, relatively easy to capture, and exhibit a spectacular array of behavioral, morphological, ecological, and life-history traits (Pianka, 1975; Dunham and Miles, 1985; Pianka and Vitt, 2003; Vitt et al., 2003; Shine, 2005; Mesquita et al., 2016). Use of lizards as model organisms traces back at least to the 1930s (Noble and Bradley, 1933; Noble and Mason, 1933). One would think that we know a lot about lizards 90 years later, and we do know a lot about some lizards (e.g., iguanas: Burghardt and Rand, 1982; Alberts et al., 2004; Cnemidophorus (sensu ¡ato): Wright and Vitt, 1993; lacertids: Pérez-Mellado et al., 2004; varanoids: Pianka and King, 2004; helodermatids: Beck, 2009; Anolis: Losos, 2009; xantusiids: Bezy, 2019). Nevertheless, as Gordon Rodda indicates, very little is known about most species. With that in mind, Rodda, a well-respected ecologist (Zoologist Emeritus at the United States Geological Survey) who has spent much of his career working with lizards, has taken on a monumental task-assembling most of what is currently known about the ecology and natural history of all lizards of the world. At the outset, I admit that I found this book and its associated databases daunting because of their breadth, a bit difficult to work through, yet extremely useful.
As of December 2020, there were 6,905 described lizard species (Reptile Database: Uetz et al., 2020), with about 200 species added each year. Data collection for Rodda's book was completed in 2017, when 6,528 lizard species were known (Rodda, 2020). Keeping abreast with taxonomic revisions and new phylogenies presents a significant challenge in itself. However, the greatest challenge is assembling data on natural history traits, particularly considering that relatively few species have been thoroughly studied.
When I think of the natural history of individual species, the following general categories come to mind: where it lives (habitat, microhabitat), what it eats (prey categories with volumetric data), when it is active (time, often measured in part by body temperatures)-Pianka's (1967, 1975) place, food, and time niches. Reproduction...