Economy of Autotomy as a Lipid Conserving Mechanism: An Hypothesis Rejected for the Gecko Phyllodactylus marmoratus

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Abstract
The hypothesis that economy of autotomy may compensate for the apparently conflicting strategies of caudal fat storage and autotomy for predator avoidance was investigated for the Australian gecko P. marmoratus. Geckos can practice economy of autotomy, although in encounters with a marsupial predator, they autotomized their whole tails regardless of the site of attack. In a natural population of geckos, 50% had regenerated a large percentage of the tail, suggesting that whole-tail autotomy occurs frequently in natural populations. Economy of autotomy may occur only in response to non-predatory assaults; whole-tail autotomy may be practiced in bona fide predatory encounters.