Arid Zone Research ›› 2018, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (5): 1160-1166.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2018.05.20

• Biology and Biological Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sexual Dimorphism and Female Reproduction of Eremias arguta

LIANG Tao1, LI Ye1,2, ZHENG Peng1, SHI Lei1   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science,Xinjiang Agricultural University,Urumqi 830052,Xinjiang,China;
    2. Institute of Forest Ecological Environment and Protection,Chinese Academy of Forestry,Beijing 100091,China
  • Received:2018-01-22 Revised:2018-03-15 Online:2018-09-15 Published:2025-11-18

Abstract: Sexual dimorphism (SD) is wide spread in animal kingdom,can be the result of different roles in life history between the two sexes,which reflects the different adaptation of male and female under the selection pressure of the environment. During the period from 2014 to 2017,152 individual specimens of Eremias arguta were collected from north Xinjiang to study their sexual dimorphism and female reproduction.Eight morphological traits of adult lizards were measured.Gravid female lizards were used to examine their reproduction.The males have bigger head,longer limbs and longer tails because of their sexual selection.In addition,there is no evidence of linking dimorphism in body size with growth rate,which reveals that the sexual dimorphism of E.arguta might have formed during sub-adults or hatchings.While females have longer abdomens because of fecundity selection,and the larger abdomens of females can lay bigger and more eggs.There are no the differences in bite scars and caudal autotomy between the two sexes,because the effects of sexual selection on tail of two sexes are similar.Our results showed that the interplay between sexual and fecundity selection leads to sexual shape dimorphism and sexual size isomorphism in E.arguta.

Key words: sexual dimorphism, sexual selection, fecundity selection, caudal autotomy, bite scars, Eremias arguta