Maternal basking behaviour determines offspring sex in a viviparous reptile

Two primary dichotomies within vertebrate life histories involve reproductive mode (oviparity versus viviparity) and sex determination (genotypic sex determination versus environmental sex determination). Although reptiles show multiple evolutionary transitions in both parameters, the co-occurrence...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2004-05, Vol.271 (Suppl 4), p.S230-S232
Main Authors: Wapstra, Erik, Olsson, Mats, Shine, Richard, Edwards, Ashley, Swain, Roy, Joss, Jean M. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal vivipary
Animals
Body Temperature
Body Temperature Regulation - physiology
Body Weights and Measures
Environmental Sex Determination
Female
Female animals
Litter size
Lizards
Lizards - physiology
Logistic Models
Male
Niveoscincus ocellatus
Reproduction
Reptiles
Sex allocation
Sex determination
Sex Determination Processes
Sex Ratio
Skinks
Squamate
Tasmania
Time Factors
Viviparity
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two primary dichotomies within vertebrate life histories involve reproductive mode (oviparity versus viviparity) and sex determination (genotypic sex determination versus environmental sex determination). Although reptiles show multiple evolutionary transitions in both parameters, the co-occurrence of viviparity and environmental-dependent sex determination have heretofore been regarded as incompatible. Our studies on the viviparous lizard Niveoscincus ocellatus show that the extent of basking by a female influences the sex of her offspring. Critically, our data reveal this effect both in the field (via correlations between date of birth and litter sex ratio) and in a laboratory experiment (females with reduced basking opportunities produced more male offspring). Changes in thermoregulatory behaviour thus allow pregnant female lizards to modify the sex of their offspring.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0152