Reproductive and Morphological Characteristics of Hemidactylus turcicus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) and Tarentola annularis (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) in Southern Egypt

Abstract

Hemidactylus turcicus and Tarentola annularis are occasionally sympatric and are ecologically similar in vertical wall microhabitat. For this reason, I studied their sexual, fat-body, and liver cycles for three years. All morphological variables are male-biased in T. annularis, unlike male H. turcicus, which showed significant differences in head sizes only. Females exhibited a spring to summer vitellogenic period with ovulation occurring during mid-spring to mid-summer in T. annularis and from late spring to late summer in H. turcicus. The mean clutch size of oviductal eggs (1.86) and relative clutch mass (0.188) was higher in H. turcicus than in T. annularis (1.67 and 0.132). Relative clutch mass was negatively correlated with snout–vent length in T. annularis but was not in H. turcicus. Sperm were present in the epididymis for eight months in H. turcicus while year-round in T. annularis. Post-breeding, masses of liver and fat body increased in both sexes of both species. There were significant differences in fat body and liver masses between the sexes of both species. Based on the liver-mass cycle, the energy expenditure on reproduction in male and female T. annularis was high compared with the corresponding sexes of H. turcicus. Testicular recrudescence began in late fall or early winter corresponding to lower temperatures, photoperiod, and precipitation. Testicular regression occurred at the highest temperatures in late summer and early fall.