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1 May 2011 Life-History Variation with Respect to Experienced Thermal Environments in the Lizard, Eremiasmultiocellata (Lacertidae)
Hong Li, Yan-Fu Qu, Guo-Hua Ding, Xiang Ji
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Abstract

We compared adult size, female reproductive traits, and offspring phenotypes between multiocellated racerunners (Eremias multiocellata) from two thermally different sites (populations) in Inner Mongolia (North China): the colder one in Wulatehouqi (WQ) and the warmer one in Dalateqi (DQ). Both adults and neonates were smaller in the colder site. Females from the two sites both produced a single litter of 2–5 young per season, and did not differ in allocation of energy to reproduction after accounting for differences in body size. Female neonates had more ventral scales than did males, and the WQ neonates had fewer ventral scales than did the DQ neonates. The WQ neonates were slower than the DQ neonates. When body length was normalized across populations, we found that (1) hindlimb length correlated positively with sprint speed in both WQ and DQ neonates, (2) forelimb length correlated positively with sprint speed only in the DQ neonates, and (3) tail length correlated positively with sprint speed only in the WQ neonates. Hindlimb length played a more important role in locomotion than did tail length or forelimb length. Though differing in size and morphology, neonates from the two sites did not differ in early growth and survival under identical laboratory conditions. Our data are consistent with many studies that have shown countergradient variation in physiological traits (growth rate and reproductive output) and cogradient variation in morphological traits.

© 2011 Zoological Society of Japan
Hong Li, Yan-Fu Qu, Guo-Hua Ding, and Xiang Ji "Life-History Variation with Respect to Experienced Thermal Environments in the Lizard, Eremiasmultiocellata (Lacertidae)," Zoological Science 28(5), 332-338, (1 May 2011). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.28.332
Received: 28 July 2010; Accepted: 1 November 2010; Published: 1 May 2011
KEYWORDS
Eremias multiocellata
female reproduction
geographic variation
growth
Lacertidae
locomotor performance
morphology
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