Prey transport kinematics in Tupinambis teguixin and Varanus exanthematicus: Conservation of feeding behavior in 'chemosensory-tongued' lizards

Although lizards have been predicted to show extensive intraoral prey-processing behaviors, quantitative analyses of the types of prey-processing behavior they demonstrate and of their kinematics have been limited. The more basal lizard lineages (Iguanians) have undergone some study, but the prey-processing repertoires of crown taxa have not been thoroughly examined and quantitative comparisons of behaviors within or among species have not been made. In this study, the prey transport behavior of the savannah monitor (Varanus exanthematicus) and gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin) are described. Although these two lineages have independently evolved tongues that are highly specialized for chemoreception, we found that they share the same three distinct types of transport behavior. These behavior patterns are (i) a purely inertial transport, (ii) an inertial transport with use of the tongue, and (iii) a non-inertial lingual transport. The tongue is used extensively in both the inertial and the purely lingual transport behaviors. More than 75 % of all transport behaviors involved tongue movements. These species appear to exhibit a conservation of feeding kinematics compared with patterns known for basal lizards. A hypothesis for the evolution of inertial feeding is proposed.