Life History and Ecology of the Five-Lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatusFitch, Henry S. (Henry Sheldon)
Science
Life History and Ecology of the Five-Lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus
Fitch, Henry S. (Henry Sheldon)
Eumeces fasciatus
In the 1952 season, a small thermometer of the type described by Bogert
(_op. cit._:197) was frequently carried on collecting trips, and cloacal
temperatures were recorded for the lizards collected. For those found in
traps the opportunity for behavioral thermoregulation was limited, and
temperatures usually approximated those of the air. The circumstances of
capture, and the air temperatures were recorded for most of the skinks
taken. For those found under rocks or in other shelter, the temperature
usually approximated that of the immediate surroundings, and averaged
much lower than for those taken in the open, but some found in such
shelters had temperatures many degrees higher than their surroundings,
and were fully active, having evidently just taken to cover to escape
notice as the collector approached. As soon as a lizard was secured it
was held in a leather glove or heavy cloth to prevent conduction of heat
from the collector's hand, and a reading was taken within a few seconds.
Most of the skinks found in the open could not be caught immediately but
were secured only after minutes of maneuvering on the part of both
collector and lizard. In most instances this maneuvering probably
entailed some loss of heat by the lizard, as it interrupted its
thermoregulatory behavior to run to a place of concealment, usually in
shadow on a tree trunk, or in or beneath ground litter. Excluding all
those not found active in the open, the mean temperature, in a sample of
41, was 31.5°C. ± .60. This figure is thought to be slightly too low
because of heat loss by many of the skinks in the time required to
capture them.
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