Liolaemus chacoensis (Chaco Tree Iguana).CLUTCH SIZE.

SANABRIA, EDUARDO; QUIROGA, LORENA; GALVANI, GUILLERMINA; PASTOR,PABLO; HERRERA MORATTA, MARIO ANDRES; NAVAS, ANA LAURA; MORENO, DANIELA; CATALDO, ARIEL

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

Herpetological Review

Año: 2011 vol. 42

0018-084X

Liolaemus chacoensis is an inhabitant of the arid chaco phytogeographical province. The biology of this species is poorly known. In this note we report the clutch size for one lizard under laboratory conditions in order to contribute to the limited knowledge of this species? reproductive biology. During January 2011, a female L. chacoensis (46.8 mm SVL, 3.3 g) was observed basking and was then hand-captured in the field at 1230 h in San Juan province, Valle Fértil Department, in La Mesada Creek (31.02377°S, 67.29694°W; datum: WGS 84; elev. 899 m). Six days post capture, on 1 February 2011, this female deposited three eggs in the laboratory, at an ambient air temperature of 25°C and 30% relative humidity. Total mass of the eggs was 0.9 g, equal to 27.2% of the lizard?s mass (post laying). Mean egg length was 11.6 ± 0.65 mm and mean egg width was 6.3 ± 0.45 mm. Mean egg volume was also estimated (43.3 ± 3.03 mm3) using the equation [V = 4/3п (L/2) (W/2)2] for an elliptical sphere.