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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 21, 2025

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Published on: May 21, 2019

Lizard colour plasticity tracks background seasonal changes.

Daniele Pellitteri-Rosa¹, Andrea Gazzola², Simone Todisco³

¹Laboratorio di Zoologia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Università di Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy daniele.pellitterirosa@unipv.it.

|May 17, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Italian wall lizards change dorsal coloration seasonally, shifting from green in spring to brown in summer and grey in autumn. This phenotypic plasticity enhances their camouflage against changing environmental backgrounds.

Keywords:

Colour variation Crypsis Dorsal pigmentation Environment Reptiles Season

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Herpetology

Background:

Environmental heterogeneity drives phenotypic plasticity in coloration.
Predation risk may favor the evolution of color-changing abilities for improved fitness.
Seasonal changes in coloration can enhance an organism's crypsis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate seasonal changes in the dorsal pigmentation of the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus campestris).
To assess if lizards alter coloration in response to seasonal environmental background variations.
To determine if these color changes improve camouflage (crypsis) throughout the year.

Main Methods:

Captured and photographed 135 Italian wall lizards in southern Italy across three time points (March, July, October) in 2019.
Quantitatively estimated dorsal chromatic variables (hue, saturation, value) using reference charts.
Collected environmental background images concurrently to compare with lizard coloration.

Main Results:

Significant seasonal variation in dorsal coloration was observed in Podarcis siculus campestris.
Lizard coloration shifted from green in spring to brownish in summer and greyish in autumn.
Observed color changes closely matched seasonal variations in the environmental background.

Conclusions:

The Italian wall lizard exhibits phenotypic plasticity in dorsal coloration, adapting to seasonal changes.
Seasonal color alteration enhances lizard crypsis, likely improving survival rates.
This study highlights the adaptive significance of color change in response to environmental heterogeneity.