THERMAL DATA IN THE FIELD AND SPACE TEMPORARY ACTIVITY OF TWO CORDILLERAN LIZARDS, SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA

GABRIEL CASTILLO; HÉCTOR JOSÉ VILLAVICENCIO; JUAN CARLOS ACOSTA; MARINERO J,. A.

Congreso; XXXI Annual Scientific Meeting; 2013

Body temperature is a key variable that affects all aspects of animal function. We studied aspects of the body temperature of field and activity patterns of Liolaemus vallecurensis and L. ruibali. Data were collected in January of 2007, recorded the cloacal (Tc), substrate (Ts) and air (Ta) temperature, the records of activity was carried out between 8 and 20 h. L. vallecurensis body temperature field was not related to the temperature of the air and substrate (rtc-ta=0.03; p=0.858; N=28; rtc-ts=0.1446; p=0.463). In L. ruibali body temperature field was related to the air temperature (rtc-ta=0.3762; p= 0.0582; N=26) and no association was found with the substrate temperature (rtc-ts=0.2728; p=0.1776; N=26). Both showed a unimodal pattern of activity, with difference in the time of maximum activity. The pattern of activity in L. vallecurensis does not differ between sexes in contrast to that observed in L. ruibali where females were more active. Data suggest that both species can maintain high body temperatures thanks to the behavior of sunstrokes that lies ahead.