Surface Characteristics of Locomotor Substrata and Their Relationship to Gekkonid Adhesion: A Case Study of Rhoptropus cf biporosus

Abstract

Many taxa of gekkonid lizards bear adhesive toe pads encompassing a hierarchy of structure from the setae that contact the substratum (Autumn, 2006), through a tight epidermal-dermal junction (Russell, 1986) in the plantar regions of the exposed portions of the scansors (highly modified scales) (Russell, 1981) to an elaborate lateral digital tendon system (Russell, 1986) that links to muscular and skeletal systems through a complex of aponeurotic connections (Russell, 1981, 1986) (Fig. 5.1). There are common aspects to the overall assembly of the adhesive system (Russell, 1976) and various phylogenetic lineages have elaborated such a system independently (Russell, 1976, 1979). In some cases the system incorporates specialized elaborations of soft-anatomy that enhance compliance with the locomotor substratum (Russell, 1981; Vanhooydonck et al., 2005). Such adhesive systems have been borne by gecko lineages for at least the last 54 million years (Bauer et al., 2005), indicating that the integrative mechanical configuration that enhances the performance of the adhesive structures (Gay, 2002) is a fundamental component of setal deployment in gekkonids. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.