The Temperature-Sensitive Period (TSP) During Incubation of Broad-snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris) Eggs

PIÑA, C.I.; SIROSKI, P.; LARRIERA, A.; LANCE, V.; VERDADE, L.M.

Montélimar, France

Congreso; 18th Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group; 2006

Grupo de Especialistas en Cocodrilos (CSG/UICN/SSC)

All crocodiles studied to date exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination. During the many weeks from egg laying to hatch there is a period of 10 in 15 d in the middle third of incubation in the American alligator during which the sex of the embryo is irreversibly fixed, referred to as the temperature-sensitive period or TSP. In this work we investigated the TSP in Caiman latirostris eggs incubated at female-inducing and male-inducing temperatures (29ºC and 33ºC respectively) by switching eggs from 29 to 33C and vice versa at timed interval throughout incubation. Compared to Alligator mississippiensis the duration of the TSP was longer, and the onset of the TSP was at an earlier stage of incubation of Broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) eggs.