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Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment
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Reproductive Biology of the Lizard Tropidurus spinulosus in the Chaco of Salta, Argentina Félix B. Cruz ; Ernestina Teisaire ;Lucrecia Nieto
To cite this Article Cruz, Félix B. , Teisaire, Ernestina andNieto, Lucrecia(1997) 'Reproductive Biology of the Lizard
Tropidurus spinulosus in the Chaco of Salta, Argentina', Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment, 32: 1, 28 — 32 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1076/snfe.32.1.28.13465 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/snfe.32.1.28.13465
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Stud Neotrop Fauna & Environm (1997) Vol. 32: 28–32
0165-0521/97/3201-0028$12.00 © Swets & Zeitlinger
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF THE L IZARD T ROPIDURUS SPINULOSUS IN THE CHACO OF SALTA , ARGENTINA Félix B. Cruz1, Ernestina Teisaire 2 and Lucrecia Nieto2 1 Department
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of Ecology, Institute of Herpetology, Miguel Lillo-Foundation, University of Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina 2 Department of Anatomy and Comparative Embryology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Miguel Lillo Institute, University of Tucumán, Argentina
Received: 23 December 1996
Accepted: 30 June 1997
ABSTRACT We studied a population of Tropidurus spinulosus, an arboreal lizard species from the dry chaco of Salta, Argentina. This species is reproducing seasonally. Females are reproductively active from November to January, whereas males are October through December. More than a clutch per cycle could be laid. Clutch size was 5.0 and is positively correlated to snout-vent length. Reproductive characteristics are similar to other Tropidurus species. Arboreality and environmental adaptations are proximal interpretations of the species-specific reproductive biology in this lizard. KEYWORDS: Lizards, Tropiduridae, Tropidurus spinulosus, reproduction, Chaco.
INTRODUCTION The 44 species of the genus Tropidurus are distributed in tropical and temperate South America (Rodrigues 1987; Frost 1992; Cei 1993). Tropidurus spinulosus is a medium sized lizard occurring in different habitats of Argentina and Brazil. (Vitt 1991; Colli et al 1992; Martori & Aún 1994, Lavilla et al 1995). Concerning the ecology, in particular diet, thermal biology and reproduction have been studied (Vitt 1991; Colli et al 1992; Martori & Aún 1994). Here we report on the seasonal activity in reproduction as Correspondence to: Félix B. Cruz, Instituto de HerpetologíaCátedra de Ecología, Fundación Miguel Lillo-Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Instituto. M. Lillo – CONICET, Miguel Lillo 251, 4000 Tucumán, Argentina. Fax: +54-81-330868; e-mail:
[email protected]
observed in the Argentine Chaco, including data on egg and sperm production.
MATERIALS AND METHODS A population of Tropidurus spinulosus was studied at the ranch Los Colorados in the province of Salta (24°35′S, 63°11′W), Argentina. The study site has a temperate-subtropical climate (Bucher 1980) with a strong rainy season, more than 85% of the precipitation (annual mean 530 mm) is recorded between October and April, and a variation in temperature less pronounced than the precipitation. The vegetation is a dry thorn forest as typical for the chacoan occidental district (Morello & Saravia Toledo 1959; Bucher 1980; Cabrera & Willink 1980).
LIZARD TROPIDURUS SPINULOSUS IN THE CHACO OF SALTA
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Lizards were collected by hand or by shooting, fixed in 10% formaldehyde and transferred to 75% ethanol. The material was deposited in the collection of the Instituto de Herpetología, Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina. Reproductive stages were determined on the basis of yolk-containing follicles and oviductal eggs the number of which was used to estimate clutch size, and enlarged testes and epididymides, respectively. Testes of three specimens/month were fixed in Bouin’s solution. 6 µm paraffine sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Micrographs were taken with a Leitz Dialux 20 microscope.
RESULTS Mean snout-vent length (SVL) of mature ?? was 107.2 mm (SD=16.3; range=75.7–139.8; n=50) and of // 94.1 mm (SD=8.0; range=80.3–110.2; n=35). ?? were larger (Fig. 1, z=5.72; P
