In the Lower Florida Keys

390 Short Notes

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Received: September24, 2002. Accepted: January13, 2003.

Interspecic communal oviposition and reproduction of four speciesof lizards(Sauria: Gekkonidae) inthelower Florida Keys

KennethL. Krysko 1,ColemanM. SheehyIII 1,A.NicholeHooper 2

1 FloridaMuseum of Natural History,Division of Herpetology,P .O.Box117800, University of Florida, Gainesville,Florida 32611, USA e-mail: kenneyk@mnh.u .edu, csheehy@ mnh.u .edu 2 Collegeof V eterinaryMedicine, Campus Box 100125, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610, USA e-mail: pipkin1@u.edu

Communaloviposition or nesting has been reported to occur in numerous saurian taxa, particularlygekkonids (FitzSimons, 1943; Conant and Collins, 1991; Graves and Duvall, 1995;Espinoza and Lobo, 1996; Branch, 1998). Espinoza and Lobo (1996: 65) de ned communaloviposition as “ thenonincidental deposition of eggs at a sharednest cavity bytwo or more conspeci cs” . Wemodifytheir de nition to include the nonincidental depositionof eggs by geckos of different genera. This oviposition strategy should not beconfused with colonial nesting. Colonial nesting is more commonly associated with aviantaxa as acosmopolitannesting strategy (O’ Connor, 1984; T arboton,2001), in which eggsare deposited adjacent to one another at the same general site, but not in the same nestcavity (Rand, 1967; Wiewandt, 1982; Mora, 1989; Burger, 1993; Espinoza and Lobo, 1996). Conspecic communaloviposition has been reported in Hemidactylusmabouia (trop- icalhouse gecko) (Bock, 1996) and Sphaerodactylusnotatus (Floridareef gecko)(Du- ellmanand Schwartz, 1958). However, we areunaware of any reports of Hemidactylus and Sphaerodactylus utilizingcommunal oviposition sites simultaneously. Hemidactylus mabouia, H. frenatus (commonhouse gecko), and S. elegans (ashygecko) have been intro- ducedin the FloridaKeys (Duellman and Schwartz,1958; Kingand Krakauer,1966; Love, 1978;Wilson and Porras, 1983;Conantand Collins, 1991; Lawson et al.,1991; Butter eld etal., 1993; Meshaka et al., 1994a, b; Powellet al.,1998; Krysko and King, 2002), where thesespecies share microhabitats with the native S. notatus.Hereinwe reportevidence of communaloviposition involving these four gecko species of two genera, and remark on themicrohabitat of ovipositionsites in thelower Florida Keys, Monroe County.

Duringnumerous surveys in the Florida Keys between 1993and 2002, nesting sites witheither single or multiplegecko eggs were frequentlydiscovered. The microhabitat of all nestingsites was notedduring our surveys,and numerous voucher specimens were collectedand placed in the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH),University of Florida (UF collection). On 4 March2002, we collectedeggs of two entire nests inthe lowerFlorida Keys. Nest #1was foundca. 0.3m aboveground under bark of anAustralian pine tree ( Casuarina equisetifolia )at FortZachary Taylor State HistoricSite on Key West (24 ±32:510N, 81±48:360W).Nest #2was alsofound ca. 0.3m aboveground under bark of a C.equisetifolia ,butwas locatedjust SW ofPerky on Lower SugarloafKey (24 ±38:6600 N, 81±34:2050 W). Althoughthe eggs of both Hemidactylus and Sphaerodactylus are small, white,and hard-shelled, they are easily distinguishedfrom each other. Hemidactylus eggsare round,about 8-10 mm inlength, about twice the size of Sphaerodactylus eggs,and usually laid in pairs (Krysko, pers. obs.; Carr, 1940;Smith, 1946; Church, 1962;Bock, 1996). Sphaerodactylus eggsare oval,about 3 :5 5mm insize, andlaid singly (Krysko, pers. obs.; £ Barbour,1921; Carr, 1940;Smith, 1946; Taylor, 1956; Duellman and Schwartz, 1958; Fitch, 1970). Littlereproductive data has beenpublished on Hemidactylus and Sphaerodactylus regardingoviposition frequenciesand incubation times. However,we were able tocompile these data toinfer the number of different females utilizingeach nestand when oviposition occurred. Oviposition frequency is regulatedby air temperature andfemale dietaryintake, and under constant laboratory settings is knownfor the following: H. frenatus (21-28 days), H. mabouia (25-30days), S. elegans (25-35days), and S. notatus (28-40days) (J. Boone, pers. comm.). Additionally,the oviposition frequency of H. mabouia has beenreported to be 16 daysin Colombia (Bock, 1996). Incubationtime andtemperature rangesin laboratory settings is knownfor the following: H. frenatus (48-55 days at 28-29±C), H. mabouia (54-62days at 27-29 ±C), S. elegans (68-82days at 28-30 ±C), and S. notatus (75-90 daysat 28-30 ±C)(J.Boone, pers. comm.). Church(1962) reported that H. frenatus eggshatch in 90 daysunder laboratoryconditions.