The regenerative capacity of the tail in embryonic and post-natal lizards (Lacerta vivipara Jacquin)

Abstract

Many studies have been made on autotomy and regeneration of the tail in lizards; for example those by Woodland (1920) and Hughes & New (1959) on geckos, by Slotopolsky (1922) on Lacerta, by Barber (1944) and Kamrin & Singer (1955) on Anolis, and by Simpson (1964) on Lygosoma. This work is concerned with the adult, and, so far as we are aware, no comparable studies on young and embryonic lizards have been made. Indeed, the application of experimental techniques to reptilian embryology is still in its infancy (see Holder & Bellairs, 1962, 1963). In 1956 Panigel found that embryos of the common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) would develop, sometimes until hatching, when removed from the mother and kept under sterile moist conditions in a form of culture. Their yolk is sufficient for nourishment, and the rudimentary type of allanto-placenta which he describes seems to have no significant nutritive function.