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Reproductive cycle of the Kalahari tree skink, Trachylepis spilogaster (Squamata: Scincidae) from southern Africa.

Article Excerpt
Abstract. -- The reproductive cycle of the viviparous Kalahari tree skink, Trachylepis spilogaster, was studied from a histological examination of gonadal material. Males follow a seasonal testicular cycle in which spermiogenesis occurred in spring and early summer. Regression followed by recrudescence took place during summer and autumn. Females began to deposit yolk the previous summer from which young were born. Not all females reproduce annually. Female litter size was positively correlated with body size. Mean litter size for 29 T. spilogaster females was 4.93 [+ or -] 1.6 SD; range 2-9. Litter sizes of 2 and 9 are new minimum and maximum sizes for T. spilogaster.

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The Kalahari tree skink, Trachylepis spilogaster, (formerly Mabuya spilogaster), is an arboreal species that frequents Acacia trees along dry river beds in arid savannah from Kimberley and the Lower Orange River in Northern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa through Botswana and Namibia to southern Angola (Branch 1998). There is little information on its reproduction. Branch (1998) reported T. spilogaster gave birth to 3-5 offspring. Pianka (1986) reported a mean litter size of 4.4 [+ or -] 1.3 SD for 74 females. The purpose of this paper is to supplement known information on T. spilogaster reproduction from a histological examination of museum specimens.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

One-hundred twenty-five female (mean snout-vent length, SVL = 66.1 mm [+ or -] 6.5 SD, range = 53-85 mm), 102 male (mean SVL= 63.5 mm [+ or -] 7.0 SD, range = 47-76 mm) and seven neonates (mean SVL = 25.3 mm [+ or -] 2.3 SD, range = 23-28 mm) T. spilogaster were examined from the herpetology collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), Los Angeles, CA. Lizards were collected during 1969-1970, 1972. The left testis and epididymis were removed from males and the left ovary was removed from females for histological examination. Enlarged follicles (> 4 mm length) were counted but not examined histologically. Oviductal eggs or embryos were previously removed (Pianka, 1986). Tissues were embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 5 [micro]m and stained with hematoxylin followed by...

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