The reproductive cycle of an Iguanid lizardAnolis sagrei, from Belize
- 31 May 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Natural History
- Vol. 11 (3) , 241-250
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937700770171
Abstract
The seasonality of the reproductive cycles of adults of the Iguanid lizard, Anolis sagrei, was studied. Twenty-three samples totalling 449 females and 142 males, were collected at Belize City, Belize, Central America. Large males are always reproductively active. Egg production, as measured by frequency of females with enlarging ovarian eggs and/or with an oviducal egg(s), was generally highest in the wet season (May through August). Earlier experimental work had implicated moisture as a cue involved in the regulation of female reproductive activity. Statistical analyses (particularly stepwise multiple regression) of the data reported here indicated that temperature, not rain, was the best predictor of reproductive activity. A hypothesis was suggested that the cue regulating a cycle may not be that factor best predicting the cycle, per se, but a factor which is important in reducing mortality of some critical stage in egg development after oviposition.This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
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