Constraints on temperature-dependent sex determination in the leopard gecko (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eublepharis macularius</Emphasis>): response to Kratochvil et al. |
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Authors: | Victoria Huang Jon T Sakata Turk Rhen Patricia Coomber Sarah Simmonds David Crews |
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Institution: | (1) Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA;(2) Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA;(3) Department of Biology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA;(4) United States Air Force, Dayton, OH, USA |
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Abstract: | Kratochvil et al. (Naturwissenschaften 95:209–215, 2008) reported recently that in the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) of the family Eublepharidae with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), clutches in which eggs were incubated at
the same temperature produce only same-sex siblings. Interpreting this result in light of studies of sex steroid hormone involvement
in sex determination, they suggested that maternally derived yolk steroid hormones could constrain sex-determining mechanisms
in TSD reptiles. We have worked extensively with this species and have routinely incubated clutches at constant temperatures.
To test the consistency of high frequency same-sex clutches across different incubation temperatures, we examined our records
of clutches at the University of Texas at Austin from 1992 to 2001. We observed that clutches in which eggs were incubated
at the same incubation temperature produced mixed-sex clutches as well as same-sex clutches. Furthermore, cases in which eggs
within a clutch were separated and incubated at different temperatures produced the expected number of mixed-sex clutches.
These results suggest that maternal influences on sex determination are secondary relative to incubation temperature effects. |
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Keywords: | Temperature-dependent sex determination Maternal effects Leopard gecko Steroid hormones |
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