Age, adult survival rate, and adult life expectancy of a podarcis tauricus population (reptilia: lacertidae) from Saros bay, Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the age composition of a Podarcis tauricus population from Saros Bay (northwest Turkey) was determined by skeletochronology. 27 preserved adults (20 female female, 5 male male, 2 juveniles) were evaluated and the maximum observed lifespan was recorded to be 7 years in females and 6 years in males. the mean age was 5.2 +/- 0.2 years in males and 5.0 +/- 0.2 years in females; the mean snout-vent length (SVL) was 63.0 +/- 0.7 mm (range: 60.4-64) in males and 61.3 +/- 0.9 mm (range 52.4-68.5) in females. No significant differences were found between sexes in terms of body size, but the sexual dimorphism index (SDI), was determined as 0.03, indicating a weakly malebiased. Adult survival rate and adult life expectancy were estimated to be 0.51 and 2.54 for female individuals, respectively. the lizards reached sexual maturity between 2 and 3 years. No significant difference was found between the sexes in terms of age and head sizes. the age and SVL were correlated only in females. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found among SVL, head length (HL), and width (HW) in females.