Abstract
The reptile Kinosternon scorpioides is a freshwater chelonian, popularly known as jurara, and is found in the Baixada Maranhense, Maranhao State, Brazil. Due to the lack of scientific information on the reproductive biology of the species, current paper describes the body and testicular biometry and the gonad-somatic index (GSI) in adult specimens collected from the natural environment. Twenty male adults were collected in the rainy (n = 10) and dry (n = 10) seasons. Data were derived from the body, testis size and GSI and tests of correlation between these measures were performed. The body biometrics of free-living Kinosternon scorpioides is similar to those found in other studies for adult animals bred in captivity. The body weight was higher in animals collected in the rainy season than that in animals collected in the dry season. The testis size presents variations among animals captured during the rainy and dry season, but the gonadossomatic index did not vary between different groups of animals. Further studies were suggested related to the levels of sexual steroid hormones and behavioral studies to understand the factors related to the species´s reproductive cycle.
Highlights
The reptile scorpion mud turtle (Kinosternon scorpioides) is an aquatic species that inhabits still and running waters (PRITCHARD; TREBBAU, 1984)
The animals were weighed and measured following body biometric parameters, such as, carapace length (CL), which corresponds to the measurement between the first dorsal marginal shields until the suture of the last dorsal marginal shields; carapace width (CW) is the distance between the 6th and 7th dorsal shield from side to side; plastron length (PL) corresponds to dorsal measurements, or rather, from the anterior edge of intergular shield until the posterior point of the suture of anal shields; plastron width (PW), which corresponds to the most ventral lateral distance between the points of insertion of the pectoral and abdominal shields with the right and left marginal shields
Since samples in the dry and rainy periods featured slight variations in testes size when compared to animals at different periods, it was suggested that behavioral and hormonal studies would be helpful to understand the factors related to the speciess reproductive cycle
Summary
The reptile scorpion mud turtle (Kinosternon scorpioides) is an aquatic species that inhabits still and running waters (PRITCHARD; TREBBAU, 1984). It belongs to the family Testudinae, with twelve genera and about forty species (ORR, 1986). It has a carapace with three sharp keels, the middle of which runs longitudinally throughout the carapace (VANZOLINI, 1996). The scorpion mud turtle has a strong jaw and a tail like a scorpion sting, from which its scientific name is derived (PRITCHARD, 1986). The known function of this corneal appendix. Biological Sciences is to assist the fixing of the female during mating (PEREIRA et al, 2007)
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