Data from: Key innovations and island colonization as engines of evolutionary diversification: a comparative test with the Australasian diplodactyloid geckos

The acquisition of key innovations and the invasion of new areas constitute two major processes that facilitate ecological opportunity and subsequent evolutionary diversification. Using a major lizard radiation as a model, the Australasian diplodactyloid geckos, we explored the effects of two key innovations (adhesive toepads and a snake-like phenotype) and the invasion of new environments (island colonization) in promoting the evolution of phenotypic and species diversity. We found no evidence that toepads had significantly increased evolutionary diversification, which challenges the common assumption that the evolution of toepads has been responsible for the extensive radiation of geckos. In contrast, a snakelike phenotype was associated with increased rates of body size evolution and, to a lesser extent, species diversification. However, the clearest impact on evolutionary diversification has been the colonization of New Zealand and New Caledonia, which were associated with increased rates of both body size evolution and species diversification. This highlights that colonizing new environments can drive adaptive diversification in conjunction or independently of the evolution of a key innovation. Studies wishing to confirm the putative link between a key innovation and subsequent evolutionary diversification must therefore show that it has been the acquisition of an innovation specifically, not the colonization of new areas more generally, that has prompted diversification.关键创新的演化与新区域拓殖，是推动生态机遇产生及后续演化辐射的两大核心过程。本研究以澳大拉西亚双趾型壁虎（Australasian diplodactyloid geckos）这一大型蜥蜴辐射演化类群作为研究模型，探讨了两项关键创新——粘附趾垫（adhesive toepads）与蛇形表型（snake-like phenotype）——以及新环境拓殖（岛屿殖民）对表型与物种多样性演化的推动作用。研究结果显示，并无证据表明粘附趾垫显著提升了演化辐射速率，这一结论挑战了学界普遍认为的"粘附趾垫演化是壁虎类群大规模辐射的核心驱动因素"这一主流假说。与之相反，蛇形表型与体型演化速率提升显著相关，同时对物种多样性演化的促进作用相对较弱。不过，对演化辐射最显著的促进作用来自对新西兰与新喀里多尼亚的殖民拓殖，该过程同时提升了体型演化与物种多样性的演化速率。这一结果表明，新环境拓殖既可以与关键创新演化协同推动适应性辐射，也可独立发挥驱动作用。因此，若要验证关键创新与后续演化辐射之间的假定关联，研究必须证明，真正推动辐射的核心因素是关键创新的获得，而非泛化的新区域拓殖行为。