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1 December 2010 Field Observation of Maternal Attendance of Eggs in a Madagascan Snake, Leioheterodon madagascariensis
Akira Mori, Tahirihasina Mathieu Randriamboavonjy
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Abstract

Maternal attendance of eggs is a parental care behavior widespread in snakes, but observations under natural situations are limited. During a radio-tracking study in a dry forest in Madagascar, we located a female Leioheterodon madagascariensis that was attending a clutch of eggs in a cavity below ground. The late embryonic stage of an excavated egg and locations of the female recorded before its discovery with the clutch suggest that the female had been attending the eggs for a relatively long period but with occasional intervals when she left the oviposition site.

© 2010 by The Herpetological Society of Japan
Akira Mori and Tahirihasina Mathieu Randriamboavonjy "Field Observation of Maternal Attendance of Eggs in a Madagascan Snake, Leioheterodon madagascariensis," Current Herpetology 29(2), 91-95, (1 December 2010). https://doi.org/10.3105/018.029.0204
Accepted: 1 September 2010; Published: 1 December 2010
KEYWORDS
Leioheterodon madagascariensis
Madagascar
Maternal attendance
nest site
Parental care
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