Feeding habits, sexual dimorphism and size at maturity of the lizard Cnemidophorus ocellifer (Spix, 1825) (Teiidae) in a reforested restinga habitat in northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The feeding habits, the sexual dimorphism in size and sexual maturity of the actively foraging lizard Cnemidophorus ocellifer were analysed in an area of a reforested Restinga habitat located in the municipality of Mataraca, along the northern-most coast of Paraíba State, Brazil. Seventy-five specimens of C. ocellifer were examined (46 males and 29 females). Of this total, only 23 specimens had prey in their stomachs. The most frequent prey consumed items were orthopterans (50%), coleopterans (23.9%) and arachnids (10.9%); termites and insect larvae were less consumed (both with 2.2%). There were no significant differences observed between the numbers of prey consumed by either males or females. There were significant differences in SVL (snout-vent length) between the sexes, with males attaining larger SVL values. When the influence of SVL was removed from the analyses, sexual dimorphism in the form was still reflected in the head size of these lizards. Sexual maturity in females and males was attained with SVL of 42.2 and 49.0 mm respectively. Although no significant difference was observed between the SVL of the females and the number of eggs produced, there was a clear tendency for larger females to produce more eggs. The low structural complexity of the vegetation and the poor soil quality in the reforested restinga area examined does not furnish favourable habitat for insect and termite larvae, contributing to the marked differences in the diet of the population of C. ocellifer observed in the present study in relation to the diet of their conspecifics in undisturbed areas of restinga, cerrado and caatinga. Santana, GG. et al. 410 Braz. J. Biol., 2010, vol. 70, no. 2, p. 409-416 evidenciado pelo tamanho da cabeça dos lagartos. A maturidade sexual das fêmeas e machos foi alcançada com SVL de 42,2 e 49,0 mm, respectivamente. Embora não tenha havido uma diferença significativa entre o SVL da fêmea e o tamanho de sua desova, foi observada uma clara tendência de fêmeas maiores produzirem desovas maiores. Na área de restinga reflorestada, a baixa complexidade da estrutura da vegetação e inadequada qualidade do solo, provavelmente, não propiciam condições favoráveis de habitat para larvas de insetos e térmitas, desse modo, contribuindo para a marcante diferença na dieta da população de C. ocellifer observada no presente estudo em relação a outras áreas de restinga não perturbadas, cerrado e caatinga.Palavras-chave: dieta, lagartos, dimorfismo sexual na forma, tamanho da desova, Mata Atlântica.

Mating behavior and female accompaniment in the whiptail lizard Cnemidophorus ocellifer (Squamata, Teiidae) in the Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil

“…Ecological features of C. ocellifer are relatively well studied (e.g. Vitt 1995, Mesquita & Colli 2003a, Santana et al 2010, and although some studies have already explored some aspects of the reproductive biology of this species, such as duration of reproductive cycle and clutch size (Vitt 1983, Mesquita & Colli 2003a, information about reproductive behavior is scarce. Vitt (1983) studied reproduction in a population of C. ocellifer from a Caatinga area in Pernambuco, Brazil, and observed mating behavior on three occasions.…”

Actividad reproductiva y dieta de Hemidactylus frenatus (Sauria: Gekkonidae) en el norte de Colombia

“…A cada individuo se le determinó el peso mediante una balanza Denver Instrument APX-200® (error de 0.001 g) y se le registraron las siguientes variables morfométricas utilizando un calibrador Mitutoyo® (± 0.05 mm): longitud hocico-cloaca (LHC), ancho de la cabeza y ancho de la boca (Santana et al, 2010).…”

Whiptail lizards in South America: a new Ameivula (Squamata, Teiidae) from Planalto dos Gerais, Eastern Brazilian Cerrado

“…Currently, Ameivula has thirteen recognized species (table 1) distributed throughout the CisAndean open-areas south of the Amazon River (Arias et al, 2011b;Harvey et al, 2012;Silva and Ávila-Pires, 2013). These species generally occur in open habitats with sandy soils and high temperature, in very distinct landscape physiognomies, such as the Caatinga (Vanzolini, 1974;Vanzolini et al, 1980;Vitt, 1983Vitt, , 1995Sales et al, 2012), Cerrado (Vitt, 1991), "campos rupestres" Arias et al, 2014), Restingas (Dias and Rocha, 2004;Dias and Rocha, 2007;Santana et al, 2010;, and the Bolivian, Paraguayan and Argentinian Chaco (Williams and Tedesco, 1985;Cei, 1993;Dirksen and De la Riva, 1999;Cabrera, 2012).…”