Structure of a Population of the Amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni in North Africa
| Autor: | José Martín, Pilar López, Adega Gonzalo, Emilio Civantos, Nuria Polo-Cavia |
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| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Herpetologica. 67:250-257 |
| ISSN: | 1938-5099 0018-0831 |
| DOI: | 10.1655/herpetologica-d-11-00007.1 |
| Popis: | Amphisbaenians are a group of reptiles specialized for a fossorial life, which makes the study of their peculiar biological and ecological adaptations difficult. The population biology of amphisbaenians is almost unknown. We described the seasonal variation in the size, age, and sex structure of a population of the amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni from the Chafarinas Islands, in North Africa. We specifically described body size (length and weight), frequency distribution of newborn and older juvenile individuals and adults, sex ratio of adults (which did not differ from a 1∶1 ratio), and proportion of juveniles and newborn individuals in the population. The results indicated that T. wiegmanni is a viviparous species that delays reproduction until at least 2.5 yr, that almost half of adult females do not reproduce every year, and that females have a very small brood size (i.e., reproductive females give birth to a single juvenile at the beginning of autumn). We also used our data to infer growt... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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