Size of Caiman latirostris Eggs and Hatchling Body Size coming from Three Different Environments in Santa Fe, Argentina

J.P. MONTINI, A. LARRIERA, C.I. PIÑA AND P. SIROSKI

Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

Congreso; XVII Working Meeting of Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG/SSC/UICN); 2004

Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG/SSC/UICN)

It is known that Caiman latirostris (broad snouted caiman) has a great capacity to make use of different environments for nesting; but females could select microhabitats, potentially affecting hatchlings sex ratios. The factors which would lead females to make that selection are unknown. Regarding this aspect, it was proposed as the objective of this work to evaluate the reproductive parameters related to eggs size and hatchlings size in three different environments (forest; floating vegetation and savannah) in Santa Fe province (working area includes San Cristóbal and San Javier districts. Eggs were harvested during 2001-02 nestingseason and incubated until hatching in the Proyecto Yacaré incubator. Based on our results, we discarded that all reproductive variables be different among the environments. Only eggs width and hatchlings SVL (both related to female body size) were different among environments. Hatchlings body mass in the three environments was always better associated to eggs volume than to length. Finally, we could infer that floating vegetation is the environment that has the best performance.