蓝尾石龙子杭州和宁德种群繁殖生活史特征的差异

测定处于不同纬度的浙江杭州和福建宁德的蓝尾石龙子(Eumeceselegans)种群的个体大小和繁殖特征。宁德种群的产卵时间为5月27日—6月22日,早于高纬度杭州种群(6月4日—7月12日)。宁德种群最小繁殖雌体及性成熟个体大小均显著小于杭州种群。宁德和杭州两种群的相对窝卵重无显著差异;当统计去除母体体长的影响之后,两地种群的窝卵数和窝卵重也无显著差异,但杭州种群的卵重量显著大于宁德种群。蓝尾石龙子窝卵数和卵重量呈负相关,窝卵数和卵大小的权衡存在种群间差异。特定窝卵数条件下,杭州种群的卵重量显著大于宁德种群。由此可见,蓝尾石龙子种群间的繁殖生活史特征存在显著差异,而且与母体大小的差异密切相关。推测不同纬度地区的蓝尾石龙子种群的繁殖策略存在差异。

Inter-population Differences in Reproductive Life-history Traits of Blue-tailed Skinks (Eumeces elegans) from Hangzhou and Ningde, Eastern China

We measured body size and reproductive traits of blue-tailed skinks (Eumeces elegans) from two localities at different latitudes in Eastern China to reveal their inter-population differences in reproductive life-history strategies sp. Females from Ningde, the locality at a lower latitude, produced their eggs from 27th May to 22nd June; whereas females from Hangzhou, the locality at a higher latitude, produced eggs from 4th June to 12th July. Snout-vent lengths of the minimum reproductive female and adult skinks in Ningde population were smaller than that in Hangzhou population. Females from the two populations did not show significant difference in relative clutch mass. After the effect of maternal snout-vent length was statistically removed, clutch size and clutch mass did not differ between the two populations, but mean egg mass still showed considerable inter-population difference, with larger eggs in Hangzhou skinks. This study revealed negative correlation between clutch size and egg mass, and inter-population difference in trade-offs between clutch size and egg size. For a given clutch size, females from Hangzhou laid larger eggs than did those from Ningde. Therefore, in E. elegans, reproductive life histories differ significantly between the two populations, and maternal body size accounts for a large quantity of such inter-population differences. These results suggest that the reproductive strategies for this species change from a high-latitudinal population to a low-latitudinal population.