Temperature-sensitive periods of sex determination in a lizard: Similarities with turtles and crocodilians

✍ Scribed by Bull, J. J.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 530 KB
• Volume: 241
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402410118

✦ Synopsis

The sex of leopard geckoes is determined by incubation temperature. This study identified their temperature-sensitive period of sex determination by incubating embryos at a male-producing temperature (32 "C) and a female-producing temperature (26 "C) for various intervals of development and comparing the sex ratios from the different experiments. Eggs incubated at 26" for 14 days (to stage 32) could still develop as either sex, but eggs incubated 30 days (through stage 34) necessarily became female; incubation at 32" did not guarantee male development until 20 days of incubation (to stage 37). The temperature-sensitive period of irreversible sex determination therefore lies between stages 32-37 and occupies much of the first half of development. The temperature-sensitive period in geckoes is similar to those in turtles and alligators, which are only distantly related to geckoes, but the reasons for these similarities are obscure.