Parental care in the long-tailed skink, Mabuya longicaudata, on a tropical Asian island

Huang, Wen

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.12.011

Cited by 53 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, descriptions of behaviour patterns in species of Scincidae are very scarce (Carpenter and Ferguson 1977;Whittier and Martin 1992;Torr and Shine 1994). Nevertheless, some species have complex social behaviours and mating systems; for example, social aggregations of one pair and several juveniles occur in 23 of the 30 described species of the genus Egernia (Chapple and Keogh 2006;Chappled 2003;Duffield and Bull 2002), long-term monogamy has been described in Tiliqua rugosa (Bull 2000;Stephan et al 2009), and the presence of parental care in Mabuya longicaudata (Huang 2005). In the genus Chalcides, olfactory patterns and escaping behaviour have been studied (Graves and Halpern 1990;Attum et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Agonistic and courtship behaviour patterns in the skink Chalcides viridanus (Fam. Scincidae) from Tenerife

2011

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There have been relatively few attempts to quantitatively describe behaviours in scincid lizards. Chalcides viridanus is a small body-sized skink endemic of Tenerife (Canary Islands). We describe and quantify 18 behaviour patterns (both social and agonistic) of this species, some of which have not been described before for other scincids. Video recordings of male-male, female-female, and malefemale interactions were made under laboratory conditions, with controlled light-dark cycle and temperature. We describe several agonistic and courtship behaviour patterns. Within the first context, we detected a new agonistic behaviour for a scincid, "Snout to body", that appeared at the beginning of agonistic sequences; it consisted of each animal placing its snout in contact with the other individual's lateral side of the body. The amplitude of head movement during "Head bobbing" was lower than that described for many other lizard species. Agonistic behaviours were shown in intrasexual staged encounters both within males and females. The comparison of behaviour patterns of both types of intrasexual encounters showed that females were more active, exhibiting significantly higher frequencies of behaviour than males. Specifically, females showed the "Snout to body" pattern more frequently than males. In male-female encounters we detected courtship and copulation patterns only in April, when males performed "Bites" and "Snout to body" directed at females.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Agonistic and courtship behaviour patterns in the skink Chalcides viridanus (Fam. Scincidae) from Tenerife

2011

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“…Although mother lizards leave soon after laying eggs in most squamate species, a few taxa of lizards exhibit long-term associations between the eggs/offspring and the mother (Huang 2006b;O' Connor and Shine 2004). Lizards thus offer an excellent opportunity to examine the costs of relatively simple forms of parental care, providing a robust comparison with the more complex conditions found in endothermic vertebrates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Parental care is predicted to evolve according to tradeoffs between the benefits of increased survival of offspring and costs of reduced survival and future reproduction of adults (Clutton-Brock 1991;Greene et al 2002;Huang 2006b;Shine 1988). Benefits for offspring tend to be fairly obvious and easy to measure, while the costs to parents have proven more difficult to discern and quantify (Reguera and Gomendio 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Costs of egg caring in the skink, Mabuya longicaudata

Huang

2006

Ecological Research

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Why do most animal species not provide parental care to their eggs or progeny? The “cost” hypothesis suggests that parental care can reduce food intake, probable survivorship, and/or subsequent fecundity of the reproductive female, and parental care is not adaptive unless it is balanced by considerable fitness trade‐offs. Therefore, parental care would be expected to evolve most often in species in which such costs are minor or insignificant. Although parental care has been reported in more than 140 species of reptiles, few records unambiguously demonstrate the cost of parental care. In the current study, I report the “costs” of maternal activities and survivorship, as well as egg attendance times, and within‐ and between‐seasonal body size variations, of females of Mabuya longicaudata after engaging in parental care. I used those data to test whether parental care necessarily entailed large costs to mother lizards. The proportion of nests guarded decreased with time after eggs were laid, with most females remaining at the nest for at least 1 week, but then some beginning to leave. The loss of mass by females over the first week of egg guarding was on average balanced by a gain in mass during subsequent foraging bouts. The snout–vent length (SVL), body mass (BM), recapture (survival) rates, fecundity, timing of a second clutch, and clutch frequencies of females that exhibited long‐term parental care (more than 28 days; mean, 31.6 ± 2.2 days) did not significantly differ from that of females that showed short‐term parental care (9∼16 days; mean, 12.5 ± 2.3 days). Thus, my data indicate that intense parental care over a long period does not necessarily entail major energy costs for the mother in terms of SVL, BM, recapture (survival) rates, or fecundity.

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“…For example, thermoregulatory behavior of pregnant viviparous reptiles directly modifies offspring developmental environments (e.g., Wapstra et al 2010). Similarly, most birds and some reptiles protect eggs and have control over the abiotic micro-environment to which their offspring are exposed (Price 1998, Huang 2006, which can positively influence offspring fitness (e.g., Shine et al 1997b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic and fitness consequences of maternal nest‐site choice across multiple early life stages

Mitchell

Warner

Janzen

2013

Ecology

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Identifying the relative contributions of genetic, maternal, and environmental factors to phenotypic variation is critical for evaluating the evolutionary potential of fitness-related traits. We employed a novel two-step cross-fostering experiment to quantify the relative contributions of clutch (i.e., maternal identity) and maternally chosen nest sites to phenotypic variation during three early life stages (incubation, hibernation, dispersal) of the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta). By translocating eggs between nests in the field, we demonstrated that both clutch and nest site contribute to phenotypic variation at hatching. Because hatchling C. pictahibernate inside nests, we performed a second cross-foster to decouple the effects of the incubation nest with that of the hibernation nest. Incubation nest explained little variation in phenotypes at spring emergence, but winter nest site was important. We found no evidence that mothers select nest sites specific to reaction norms of their own offspring, suggesting that females may select nest sites with microhabitats that broadly meet similar requirements across the population. After hibernation, we released hatchlings to assess performance and phenotypic selection during dispersal. Hibernation nest site influenced physiological performance during dispersal, and we detected nonlinear selection on hatchling carapace length. Our experiment demonstrates that nest-site choice has substantial effects on phenotypic variation and fitness across multiple early life stages. Abstract. Identifying the relative contributions of genetic, maternal, and environmental factors to phenotypic variation is critical for evaluating the evolutionary potential of fitnessrelated traits. We employed a novel two-step cross-fostering experiment to quantify the relative contributions of clutch (i.e., maternal identity) and maternally chosen nest sites to phenotypic variation during three early life stages (incubation, hibernation, dispersal) of the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta). By translocating eggs between nests in the field, we demonstrated that both clutch and nest site contribute to phenotypic variation at hatching. Because hatchling C. picta hibernate inside nests, we performed a second cross-foster to decouple the effects of the incubation nest with that of the hibernation nest. Incubation nest explained little variation in phenotypes at spring emergence, but winter nest site was important. We found no evidence that mothers select nest sites specific to reaction norms of their own offspring, suggesting that females may select nest sites with microhabitats that broadly meet similar requirements across the population. After hibernation, we released hatchlings to assess performance and phenotypic selection during dispersal. Hibernation nest site influenced physiological performance during dispersal, and we detected nonlinear selection on hatchling carapace length. Our experiment demonstrates that nest-site choice has substantial effects on phenotypic variation and fitness acro...

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Parental care in the long-tailed skink, Mabuya longicaudata, on a tropical Asian island

Cited by 53 publications

References 22 publications

Agonistic and courtship behaviour patterns in the skink Chalcides viridanus (Fam. Scincidae) from Tenerife

Agonistic and courtship behaviour patterns in the skink Chalcides viridanus (Fam. Scincidae) from Tenerife

Costs of egg caring in the skink, Mabuya longicaudata

Phenotypic and fitness consequences of maternal nest‐site choice across multiple early life stages

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