科学家确认世界首个温血蜥蜴

科学家确认世界首个温血蜥蜴

作者：William K. Milsom等 来源：《科学进展》 发布时间：2016/2/2

和所有蜥蜴一样，阿根廷黑白泰加蜥依赖于周围环境保持温暖。不过，据《新科学家》杂志报道，随着泰加蜥的交配季节开始变热，这种蜥蜴的身体也在升温。

一项日前发表于《科学进展》（Science Advances）期刊的最新研究表明，泰加蜥将体温升高到比周围环境温暖10摄氏度的能力，使其成为首个已知的温血蜥蜴。

目前尚不明确的是，泰加蜥如何提高自己的体温以及原因何在。研究人员推测，在交配季节循环流动的激素可能使泰加蜥的身体组织更加努力地工作，从而产生更多热量。原因则可能和抚养子女有关。身体保持更加温暖，增加了泰加蜥能保持活跃状态的时间，使其得以在帮助年幼的“子女”生存上做更多事情。（来源：中国科学报 徐徐）

Seasonal reproductive endothermy in tegu lizards

Abstract With some notable exceptions, small ectothermic vertebrates are incapable of endogenously sustaining a body temperature substantially above ambient temperature. This view was challenged by our observations of nighttime body temperatures sustained well above ambient (up to 10°C) during the reproductive season in tegu lizards (~2 kg). This led us to hypothesize that tegus have an enhanced capacity to augment heat production and heat conservation. Increased metabolic rates and decreased thermal conductance are the same mechanisms involved in body temperature regulation in those vertebrates traditionally acknowledged as “true endotherms”: the birds and mammals. The appreciation that a modern ectotherm the size of the earliest mammals can sustain an elevated body temperature through metabolic rates approaching that of endotherms enlightens the debate over endothermy origins, providing support for the parental care model of endothermy, but not for the assimilation capacity model of endothermy. It also indicates that, contrary to prevailing notions, ectotherms can engage in facultative endothermy, providing a physiological analog in the evolutionary transition to true endothermy.

原文链接：http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/2/1/e1500951.full.pdf