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 male whose dormancy was terminated in early winter by bringing him
into a warm room causing him to assume breeding coloration and to breed
some four months earlier than those under natural conditions has already
been mentioned. By the time the regular breeding season arrived, this
male had long since undergone sexual regression and retained no trace of
the red suffusion. In this condition, placed in a terrarium with a mixed
group of breeding adults, his social status was of unusual interest. He
exhibited no interest in the females and was less pugnacious toward
other males than were the individuals in breeding condition. Although he
seemed somewhat more nervous and timid, his hostile behavior was not
entirely suppressed, as from time to time he moved up to other males and
bit them viciously. His color pattern resembled those of certain old
adult females in which the body stripes have been suppressed, but the
breeding males evidenced no uncertainty as to his sex and were uniformly
hostile. Their reactions were not noticeably different toward him than
they were toward breeding males. The importance of an olfactory stimulus
as a social releaser in sexual behavior of lizards has not been
appreciated, although Noble and Mason (1933:10) did demonstrate its
importance in the behavior of the female toward her eggs.
It is evident from published accounts, and from my own limited
experience with _fasciatus_ in parts of its range other than
northeastern Kansas, that the phenology of the breeding cycle is subject
to geographic variation, synchronizing with the somewhat different
climatic conditions under which the species occurs. However, the
difference is less than might be expected, in view of the species'
extensive range. As a result of the early spring, and the warm summer
climate in the southern states, dates of laying and hatching may be
several weeks advanced. On April 12, 1952, Dr. Wilfred T. Neill showed
me several live _E. fasciatus_, collected a few days before along the
Trinity River in southeastern Texas, which appeared to be at the height
of breeding condition. In northeastern Kansas on that date, general
emergence had not yet occurred, and it was not until about May 10 that
the population attained the peak of breeding condition. On May 8, 1948,
near Burr Ferry, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, I caught an adult female in
her nest burrow, and she contained eggs ready to be laid. Data with
which Mr. Robert Gordon kindly provided me for specimens from southern
Louisiana and southeastern Texas, in the Tulane University collection,
indicate gravid females on June 4, 1952, and June 17, 1948 (3), and
females with their egg clutches on June 16, 1948, June 17, 1948, June
23, 1950; and hatching dates in captivity of July 19, 1949, July 19,
1950, July 25-26, 1949. These dates correspond well with those for
specimens obtained in northeastern Kansas in the same years. In the
northern part of the range, Ruthven (1911:264) recorded that in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account