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
The temperature of one was
18.2°C. when the sun had nearly set and activity was tapering off, at an
air temperature of 16.2°C. At 16°C. skinks in a terrarium with no access
to sunshine for the most part showed no interest in food and kept out of
sight under cover. When exposed their activity was directed almost
entirely toward burrowing into the substrate or searching for objects
beneath which to hide. One adult female was partly exposed by scraping
away loose soil into which she had burrowed. A mealworm was then dropped
just in front of her head. She tested it several times with her tongue
and then ate it without emerging, her movements being much less brisk
than they normally are in feeding. Probably this approximates the
threshhold temperature for feeding behavior. At 19.5°C. the several
skinks in this terrarium were moving about in the open although they
were not exposed to sunshine, and they accepted food avidly when it was
offered, but were much slower than at optimum temperatures. On May 16,
1951, when a pair of skinks were put together in a terrarium in the
laboratory at 21°C., copulation ensued but it was of longer duration
than in other observed instances, seemingly because of the relatively
low temperature.
Relatively few temperature readings on gravid or brooding females under
natural conditions were obtained as they were easily disturbed and
tended to desert their nests at slight provocation. To avoid desertions
handling was kept to a minimum. Occasionally gravid females were caught
in the open, but most of them were in nest burrows under flat rocks.
These females found in nests were mostly cold to the touch, and the
temperature readings taken on some of them usually approximated the air
temperature, being either higher or lower (depending on whether the air
was cooling or warming and whether the lizards were warmed by contact
with rock or soil receiving sunshine). On May 23, 1952, 22 skinks were
seen, four adult males, seven adult gravid females, and 11 young. Of
these the adult females all were in nest burrows, and were cold and
slow; consequently all of them were caught without difficulty. The males
and young, however, were either fully warmed or warm enough to escape
rapidly, so that only three of the young and no adult males were caught.
Temperatures of the females tested were 25.6°, 23.6°, 23.5°, 22.3°, and
19.4°, and for the three young, 32.8°, 28.4°, and 28.4°. Air temperature
varied from 20.5° to 24.8°. For the total of 30 females in nest burrows
whose temperatures were taken in 1952, the average was 26.3°C, ranging
from 16° to 34°. Gravid females, and those with nests and eggs were
rarely seen in the open.
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