Intracascaral space” an eggshell structure of Caiman latirostris eggs

PIAZZA, MILA V.; MATÍAS BELLA; FERNÁNDEZ, MARIELA S.; JOSÉ F. VILÁ; CARLOS I. PIÑA; MELINA S. SIMONCINI

Chetumal

Congreso; XXVI Working Meeting Crocodiles Specialist Group - UICN.; 2022

Crocodiles Specialist Group - UICN

In the last decades, eggshells of egg from big reptiles have been studied by many researchers, not just to describe the eggshell (and be able to compare they to old linages that have once inhabit our planet), but also to understand how the egg provides to the embryo a specific condition during incubation. Previous studies have described and characterized normal and pathologic Caiman latirostris eggshells, we also have evaluated how the eggshell changes during incubation. In a study relating temperature variation and eggshell structures of successful eggs, we observed empty structures not previously described that we called “intracascaral space”. Those structures were found nearby the superior part of the pore channel (or vertex), and the external surface of the continuous calcium layer, sometimes in contact (though its superior part) with the crater and pore. Intracascaral space were found in eggs from five clutches (of two regions -polo and equator- of two eggs from each nest), in both equator and poles region, and were simple or double (one space over the other). We hypothesized that these space could be weak points, to facilitate pore opening. These spaces are formed from calcium deposition of female in the egg.