Parentage assignment reveals multiple paternity in the critically-endangered Guatemalan beaded lizard (Heloderma charlesbogerti)

Abstract

Within captive management programs for species of conservation concern, understanding the genetic mating system is of fundamental importance, given its role in generating and maintaining genetic diversity and promoting opportunities for sperm competition. If a goal of a conservation program is reintroduction, knowledge of the mating system may also inform prediction models aimed at understanding how genetic diversity may be spatially organized, thus informing decisions regarding where and which individuals should be released in order to maximize genetic diversity in the wild population. Within captive populations, such information may also in uence how animals are maintained in order to promote natural behaviors. Here we investigate the genetic mating system of the Guatemalan beaded lizard, Heloderma charlesbogerti, a member of a genus lacking such information. A group of adult male and female H. charlesbogerti were co-habited for ve years during the species perceived breeding season. Through genomic parentage analysis, 50% of clutches comprising multiple offspring were found to result from polyandry, with up to three males siring offspring within single clutches. Furthermore, males were found to be polygamous both within and across seasons, and females would exhibit promiscuity across seasons. As such, within this captive environment, where opportunities existed for mating with multiple sexual partners, the genetic mating system was found to be highly promiscuous, with multiple paternity common within clutches. These ndings are novel for the family Helodermatidae, and the results have broader implications about how reproductive opportunities should be managed within captive conservation programs.

Female long‐term sperm storage results in viable offspring in the Himalayan Mountain Pitviper, Ovophis monticola

“…This case, confirmed through DNA analyses, may represent the the upper‐limit for LTSS in vertebrates. Understanding the mating system of a species has important implications for long‐term captive management (Levine et al, 2022); thus, it is important to accurately disentangle LTSS from FP. Fortunately, this can be achieved with relative ease through genome‐scale molecular sequencing and bioinformatic analyses.…”