Reproductive Activity of Three Sympatric Viviparous Lizards at Omiltemi, Guerrero, Sierra Madre del Sur, Mexico

Ramírez‐Pinilla, Martha Patricia; Calderón‐Espinosa, Martha L.; Flores‐Villela, Oscar; Muñoz-Alonso, Antonio; Cruz, Fausto R. Méndez de la

doi:10.1670/08-140r1.1

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Several studies have shown that reproductive patterns of squamates exhibit a great variation among species (Shine, ) and that characteristics as age and size at sexual maturity, clutch size, frequency of clutches, reproductive phenology and the period of the reproductive activity are of the most important traits in the life history of this group of animals (Duvall, Guillette, & Jones, ; Licht, ; Ramírez‐Pinilla, Calderón‐Espinosa, Flores‐Villela, Muñóz‐Alonso, & Méndez‐de la Cruz, ). Reproductive patterns in squamates are influenced by the environment, phylogeny and parity mode (Méndez‐de la Cruz, Villagrán‐Santa Cruz, & Andrews, ) and have been divided into two principal types, cyclic or seasonal and acyclic or continuous (Guillette & Méndez‐de la Cruz, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive cycle of the oviparous lizard Sceloporus jalapae, from Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, Mexico

et al. 2017

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Reproductive patterns vary widely among species and populations of squamates. In general, patterns can be divided into cyclic and acyclic. Cyclic patterns are common in tropical and temperate species of seasonal environments, while acyclic ones are characteristic of tropical species that inhabit less variable environments. We studied the reproductive cycle of Sceloporus jalapae, one of the smallest species of Sceloporus, in an arid environment at Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, Mexico. Both sexes mature in the first year following hatching and exhibit a seasonal reproductive pattern with maximum activity in spring and summer that appears to be influenced by temperature. Unlike small species of Sceloporus that inhabit pine-oak and tropical forests, S. jalapae exhibits an extended period of reproductive activity that allows females to produce at least two clutches of 3-7 eggs each, and contrary to other species of Sceloporus, in this species there is no correlation between female length and clutch size. The reproductive pattern of S. jalapae is like that shown by other oviparous species of the genus; nevertheless, some life history traits of this species are shared with oviparous and viviparous species of small size. K E Y W O R D S

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive cycle of the oviparous lizard Sceloporus jalapae, from Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, Mexico

et al. 2017

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“…While spermatogenesis is often positively associated with temperature, the vitellogenesis is more correlated with precipitation (Shine ; Ramírez‐Pinilla et al. ; Clusella‐Trullas et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For viviparous lizards, the reproductive cycle is largely dependent on abiotic factors, such as precipitation, temperature and photoperiod (Shine ; Ramírez‐Pinilla et al. ; Clusella‐Trullas et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Diverse reproductive cycles might be the result of local adaptation or plastic responses to similar ecological conditions among different species, which may have been the driving forces behind the evolution of atypical reproductive cycle, but the mechanism of this hypothesis is presently unknown (Ibargüengoytía ; Ramírez‐Pinilla et al. ; Ramírez‐Bautista et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An atypical reproductive cycle in a common viviparous Asia Agamid Phrynocephalus vlangalii

Yue

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Viviparous lizards living in cold climate of high altitude often exhibit atypical reproductive cycles, in which mating and fertilization occur synchronously and annually with parturition occurring at the end of the year. Nevertheless, detailed case studies on atypical reproductive cycles are few. Using anatomical data combined with behavioral observations, we examined the reproductive cycle of a common Asian agamid, Phrynocephalus vlangalii, from a high‐elevation area in Sichuan, China. Male spermiation of P. vlangalii occurred in May, and spermatogenesis began in June and reached a maximum in October. For females, ovulation and fertilization occurred in May, and females developed gestation and pregnancy in 3 months from June to August, without vitellogenesis during this period. Females gave birth synchronously in late August, then vitellogenesis began and lasted until May of the next year. All adult males and females were synchronized in the same reproductive condition each month. The synchronous and annual reproductive cycle of P. vlangalii clearly represents an atypical cycle. The male courtship and mating behaviors were concordant with gonadal cycle and mainly happened in May and June. Despite the short growth period for neonates, they had a high over‐winter survival rate of 84.4%, suggesting that autumn parturition did not generate high costs to this reproductive cycle. We propose that the high over‐winter survival rate of neonates is likely linked with female delayed sexual maturity, female asynchronous vitellogenesis and gestation, large relative clutch mass (RCM), and adult‐offspring burrow sharing behavior during hibernation.

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“…Habitat type ranges from arboreal or saxicolous to terrestrial (Smith 2001;Köhler 2003). They are characterized by a viviparous reproductive mode with breeding and gestation from September to March, and with mean litter size of 8.6 ± 0.59 (Guillette & Sullivan 1985;Ramírez-Bautista & Pavón 2009;Ramírez-Pinilla et al 2009). Species in the S. formosus group have moderate body sizes (between 81 and 95 mm snout vent length [SVL]), with morphological variation between species in number of canthal, gular and dorsal scales, femoral pores and color pattern (Sites et al 1992;Pérez-Ramos & Saldaña-De La Riva 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Would behavioral thermoregulation enable pregnant viviparous tropical lizards to cope with a warmer world?

López‐Alcaide

Nakamura

Smith

et al. 2017

Integrative Zoology

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Sceloporus lizards depend on external heat to achieve their preferred temperature (T ) for performing physiological processes. Evidence both in the field and laboratory indicates that pregnant females of this Genus select body temperatures (T ) lower than 34 °C as higher temperatures may be lethal to embryos. Therefore, thermoregulation is crucial for successful embryo development. Given the increase in global air temperature, it is expected that the first compensatory response of species that inhabit tropical climates will be behavioral thermoregulation. We tested whether viviparous Sceloporus formosus group lizards in the wild exhibited differences in thermoregulatory behavior to achieve the known T for developing embryos regardless of local thermal conditions. We quantified field active body temperature, thermoregulatory behavior mechanisms (time of sighting, microhabitat used and basking time) and available microhabitat thermal conditions (i.e. operative temperature) for 10 lizard species during gestation, distributed along an altitudinal gradient. We applied both conventional and phylogenic analyses to explore whether T or behavioral thermoregulation could be regulated in response to different thermal conditions. These species showed no significant differences in field T during gestation regardless of local thermal conditions. In contrast, they exhibited significant differences in their behavioral thermoregulation associated with local environmental conditions. Based on these observations, the differences in thermoregulatory behavior identified are interpreted as compensatory adjustments to local thermal conditions. We conclude that these species may deal with higher temperatures predicted for the tropics by modulating their thermoregulatory behavior.

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Reproductive Activity of Three Sympatric Viviparous Lizards at Omiltemi, Guerrero, Sierra Madre del Sur, Mexico

Cited by 17 publications

References 36 publications

Reproductive cycle of the oviparous lizard Sceloporus jalapae, from Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, Mexico

Reproductive cycle of the oviparous lizard Sceloporus jalapae, from Zapotitlán Salinas, Puebla, Mexico

An atypical reproductive cycle in a common viviparous Asia Agamid Phrynocephalus vlangalii

Would behavioral thermoregulation enable pregnant viviparous tropical lizards to cope with a warmer world?

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