Reproductive Allocation and Potential of Salamandra infraimmaculata (Amphibia: Urodela: Salamandridae) Females; a Long-Term Study

Michael R. Warburg

Abstract


The data are based on 30 female salamanders (Salamandra infraimmaculata Martens, 1855) that bred in the laboratory immediately after their capture, producing 62 half-sib larval cohorts that contained 4240 larvae. The average number of larvae per female was 73.3, and per cohort varied from 44.0 to 93.5 averaging 69.2 larvae per cohort. Maximum number of larvae in a cohort was 161. One female gave birth at the putative age of 23 years. That female produced seven cohorts containing a total of 523 larvae (between the putative ages 6 – 23 years). Most females releasing larvae were between 7 and 13 years old. The female’s mass ranged from 57.4 to 184.3 g. Reproductive allocation (i.e., the mass allocated by the female to produce a larval cohort) was 17.9 or 0.24 g/larva (ranging between 0.08 – 0.39 g/larva). The female’s reproductive potential estimated over its lifetime averaged 1384 larvae if it started breeding at the age of four continuing sequentially until it reached 23 years. Even if a female breeds only once in her lifetime producing larvae with only 10% success of survival to metamorphosis, there is a very good chance of survival of at least a few (~7) juveniles to adulthood.

Keywords


Salamandra; Salamandridae; Urodela; reproductive allocation; reproductive potential; half-sib cohorts; long-term study

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2012-19-1-1–9

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