Impact of Caudal Autotomy on the Behavior of Asian House Gecko Hemidactylus frenatus

Nimisha Shaju, Anu Anto

Abstract


Tail autotomy facilitates escape from a predatory attack. We examined the effect of induced autotomy on the locomotion and prey capture of Hemidactylus frenatus and recorded the movement of autotomized tail of different lengths. It was observed that the autotomized tail of different lengths differ in the duration of movement and a strong positive relationship was noted between the length of the shed tail, the time spent moving and in the area covered by the autotomized tail. It was seen that more number of successful prey attempts was made by the tailed ones than the tailless lizards. Tail autotomy could be considered a fundamental aspect of lizard biology that demands further investigation especially in cryptic species like Hemidactylus frenatus.

Keywords


autotomy; Asian house Gecko; Hemidactylus frenatus

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2019-26-4-242-246

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