Reproduction in Two Lesser Antillean Populations of Ameiva plei (Teiidae)

Abstract

-Reproduction was studied in Ameiva plei from Anguilla and Dog Island, Lesser Antilles. Reproduction was seasonal with reproductive activity concentrated in the months of May-October, and timing associated with day length and temperature. Clutch size on Anguilla averaged 3.1 (range 1-7) and 2.1 (range 1-3) on Dog Island. Clutch size was positively correlated with body size on both islands and appeared to be unrelated to environmental factors except as insofar as body size is related to such factors. Females on Anguilla produced multiple clutches within a season, depending on their size, while on Dog Island there was no evidence of a second clutch. A recent interest in reproductive biology in tropical reptiles has revealed great variability in reproductive cycles. Unlike temperate-zone squamates, which are known to cycle in synchrony with the winter-summer fluctuations in temperature, it was thought that tropical squamates exhibited aseasonal reproduction (Fitch, 1970) because of moderated temperatures with little fluctuation year-round. In 1982, Fitch suggested that cycles were constrained in some way by precipitation cycles. Since then, reproductive cycles in tropical squamates have been shown to be influenced not only by rainfall (Licht and Gorman, 1970; Colli, 1991), but by day length (Rodriguez-Ramirez and Lewis, 1991), water availability (Stamps and Tanaka, 1981), and phylogenetic constraints (Dunham and Miles, 1985). In the case of recent (geologic time) invaders, cycles may reflect the conditions that are most similar to conditions where their 553 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.58 on Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:00:49 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms