Reproductive tactics of Ameiva ameiva (Lacertilia: Teiidae) in a seasonally fluctuating tropical habitat

Abstract

The reproductive ecology of Ameiva ameiva was studied for 12 months in a caatinga habitat of northeast Brazil. Even though rainfall was seasonal, the female reproductive cycle was not associated with this seasonality. Females reproduced year-round, with peak reproductive periods during August–October and January–February. Clutch size ranged from one to nine and was correlated to female size but egg size was constant. Males showed evidence of reproductive activity throughout the year. Fat body mass of males and females varied greatly among individuals. There was no association between fat storage and wet–dry seasonality. In females, fat body mass tended to decrease during peak reproductive periods. Most striking was the observation that 97.8% of all adult Ameiva possessed enlarged fat bodies, suggesting that resource periods low enough to affect reproduction did not exist during 1977–1978. The reproductive tactics of Ameiva were similar to those of other tropical macroteiids, regardless of their distribution, but very different than reproductive tactics of sympatric iguanid lizards. Compared with iguanid lizards, resources may be less limiting for macroteiids because their widely foraging behavior for prey acquisition may allow them to find rich patches of resources which would be unavailable to habitat specific sit-and-wait foragers, like most iguanid lizards.