Another potential cost of tail autotomy: tail loss may result in high ectoparasite loads in Sceloporus lizards: Supplementary Material

Tail autotomy is a common phenomenon in lizards that increases the chances of immediate survival during a predation event or agonistic encounter. However, despite short-term benefits, tail regeneration may also impose costs. Several studies have demonstrated that tail loss compromises other vital functions such as lipid storage, reproduction, and the immune system. Several lizard species are hosts of mites and ticks. Here we evaluated in three lizard species from the genus Sceloporus, whether individuals that have lost their tails and invested energy in tail regeneration are more susceptible to ectoparasites. Using a multimodel inference framework, we examined if tail loss and regeneration, as well as sex, body condition, and season (dry or rainy) predict ectoparasite load. Our results indicate that investing energy and resources in tail regeneration compromises defence against ectoparasites. These costs differed between sexes and among species. Overall, ectoparasite load increases during the rainy season and is on average higher in males. In S. grammicus, during the rainy season, males with regenerated tails and in poor body condition had more ectoparasites than males with intact tails in good body condition. In S. megalepidurus, we observed the same effect during the rainy season but in females rather than males. In S. torquatus, we found no effect of tail loss on ectoparasite load. We discuss the possibility that differences observed among species reflect differences in both species-specific physiological trade-offs and local environmental conditions断尾自割（tail autotomy）是蜥蜴的一类常见行为，可提升其在遭遇捕食者攻击或敌对冲突时的即时存活几率。尽管短期收益显著，但尾巴再生过程也会带来相应代价。多项研究已证实，尾部缺失会损害蜥蜴的多项关键生理功能，包括脂质储存、繁殖能力与免疫系统功能。部分蜥蜴物种是螨类与蜱类的宿主。本研究针对嵴尾蜥属（Sceloporus）的3种蜥蜴，探究了断尾且投入能量进行尾巴再生的个体是否更易感染体外寄生虫（ectoparasites）。本研究采用多模型推断框架，分析了尾部缺失与再生状态、性别、身体状况以及季节（旱季/雨季）是否会对体外寄生虫负荷产生影响。研究结果显示，为尾巴再生投入能量与资源会削弱宿主对体外寄生虫的防御能力，且这类代价存在性别与物种间的差异。总体而言，体外寄生虫负荷在雨季更高，且雄性个体的平均寄生虫负荷高于雌性。对于纹嵴尾蜥（S. grammicus），在雨季期间，尾巴再生且身体状况较差的雄性个体，其体外寄生虫负荷高于尾巴完整且身体状况良好的雄性个体。对于大鳞嵴尾蜥（S. megalepidurus），我们在雨季观察到了相同的效应，但该效应仅出现在雌性个体中，而非雄性。而在领嵴尾蜥（S. torquatus）中，未发现尾部缺失对体外寄生虫负荷存在显著影响。本研究还讨论了一种可能性：不同物种间观测到的差异，可能同时反映了物种特异性的生理权衡策略与当地环境条件的差异。