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Reproductive cycle of the common barking gecko, Ptenopus garrulus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from southern Africa.

Article Excerpt
The common barking gecko, Ptenopus garrulus occurs in western arid regions of southern Africa and ranges from little Karoo to Kruger National Park (Branch 1998). Hibbitts et al. (2005) studied the reproductive ecology of P. garrulus and Girard (1997) described mating behavior in captive specimens. Clutch sizes are in Haacke (1975), Pianka (1986), Pianka & Huey (1978). The purpose of this paper is to provide additional information on the reproductive biology of P. garrulus from a histological examination of museum specimens as part of an ongoing effort to characterize the reproductive patterns of geckos from southern Africa.

Materials and Methods

A total of 171 P. garrulus including 91 females (mean snout-vent length, SVL = 46.7 mm [+ or -] 3.0 SD, range = 39-53 mm), 61 male (mean SVL = 47.0 mm [+ or -] 3.6 SD, range = 38-58 mm), 10 subadults (mean SVL = 34.1 mm [+ or -] 1.6 SD, range = 33-37 mm) and 9 presumed neonates (mean SVL = 24.0 mm [+ or -] 1.5 SD, range = 21-25 mm) P. garrulus were examined from the herpetology collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), Los Angeles, CA. Lizards were collected 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1976.

For histological examination, the left testis and epididymis were removed from males and the right ovary was removed from females. Enlarged follicles (> 4 mm length) or oviductal eggs were counted. Tissues were embedded in paraffin and cut into sections of 5 [micro]m. Slides were stained with Harris hematoxylin followed by eosin counterstain. Slides of testes were examined to determine the stage of the spermatogenic cycle. Slides of ovaries were examined for the presence of yolk deposition or corpora lutea. Statistical analyses were performed using Instat (vers. 3.0b, Graphpad Software, San Diego, CA). An unpaired t-test was used...