1989/03/01 by Laurie J. Vitt, William E. Cooper · 28 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Biology #Ecology #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Lizard #Plant and animal studies #Zoology
paper · doi:10.2307/1564312
published in Journal of Herpetology 23(1), 29 (The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles)
openalex publication_date 1989/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Experiments were conducted on maternal care in two species of skinks, Eumeces fasciatus and E. laticeps. Brooding females of both species retrieved their own eggs after eggs were removed from the nest and continued brooding them. They also retrieved and brooded conspecific and congeneric eggs. Neither species retrieved eggs of Scincella laterale or Anolis carolinensis. There was no tendency for maternal females or their offspring to remain in microhabitats containing nest material when offered a choice. Likewise, there were no apparent associations between maternal females and their offspring fol- lowing hatching. Although female E. fasciatus remained under shelter boards during brooding, they avoided shelter boards in the experiments following hatching, and buried themselves in the sand substrate. These results suggest that there may be a high cost to remaining with or near the nest post-hatching.