Communal nesting in the small skink, Lampropholis adonis

1 Pages·1995·0.19 MB·

by  P J Couper

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382 MEMOIRSOFTHEQUEENSLANDMUSEUM
COMMUNAL NESTING IN THE SMALL SKINK, across the nest and hatched over a short lime frame, it is
LAMPROPHOLISADONIS. Memoirs ofthe Queensland reasonabletoassumethattheentireeggcachewasdeposited
Museum 38(2)382.1995:-Communalnestingiswell-known by L adonis, and that the eggs had been laid more or less
amongstLampropholisspp. Ithasbeenobservedfrequently simultaneously. The maximum clutch size recorded for
intwospecies,L delicataandL guichenoti(Greer, 1989& Lampropholis(Ldelicata)isseveneggs(Greer, 1989:Table
referencestherein).ItsoccurrenceintherecentlydescribedL 9).PresumingLadonisproducessimilarsizedclutchestoL
adonisIngram, 1991,isthereforepredictable. delicata,acacheof53eggswouldrepresentthenestingeffort
On12November, 1994,acommunalnest(Fig. 1)contain- ofatleasteightfemales.
ing 53 stink eggs was found in Bulburin State Forest The hatchlings (QMJ59313-59315, QMJ59331-59334)
(24°31'S, 151 29*E),Theeggshadbeen laid ina pocketof measured 17.12mm to 20.36mm SVL (n=7, mean= 18.86)
insectfrassanddecayingvegetationbetweensheetsofcorru- andhadatotallengthof39.47mmto43.18mm(n=7,mean=
gatediron.The 'nest* wasinasmall,well-shadedclearingin 41.57).Theyweighed(preservedweight)between0.17gand
complexnotophyll vineforest,5mfromtheforest'sedge.L 0.20g (n=7, mean=0.l8). All hatchlings were similarly
adonis was the most abundant skink species at this site. markedtoadultsofthisspecies(Ingram, 1991).
Several specimens of this species were seen beneath the
corrugated iron, andhad been observed at this locality pre- LiteratureCited
viously, associated with acommunal nest(S. Wilson, pers. Greer, A.E., 1989. ThebiologyandevolutionofAustralian
comm.).ToverifythatLadonishadlaidtheeggsinthe'nest* Lizards.' (Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton.
seveneggsweretaken fromtheedgesandcentreoftheegg 264pp.
cacheandincubatedatroomtemperatureinmoistvermiculite. Ingram, G.J., 1991. Five new skinks from Queensland
Theeggsvariedinlengthfrom9.54mmto 10.76mm(n=7, rainforests. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum
mean=9.91), in width from 7.07mm to 7.94mm (n=7, 30(3):443-453.
mean=7.61) and weighed between 0.30g and 0.38g (n=7, Couper, P.J., Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South
mean=0.33). They hatchedovera24hourperiodon 25th(4 Brisbane, Queensland410], Australia;Schneider, C.J., Zo-
eggs)-26th(3eggs)January,1995.Allsevenhatchlingswere ologyDept., UniversirvofQueensland.StLucia, Queensland
identified as L adonis. As the eggs were collected widely 4072,Australia;25August1995.
FIG. 1. A communal nest containing 53 L adonis eggs,
BulburinSF.