Fitness disadvantages to disrupted embryogenesis impose selection against suboptimal nest-site choice by female grass snakes, Natrix natrix (Colubridae)

K. Löwenborg, R. Shine, M. Hagman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Phenotypic traits of hatchling reptiles are strongly influenced by incubation regimes (e.g. of temperature and moisture), suggesting that maternal choice of suitable nest-sites should be under intense selection. Our laboratory incubation of 209 eggs (17 clutches) from wild-caught Swedish grass snakes (Natrix natrix) showed that scale abnormalities (half-scales on one side of the body, often reflecting lateral asymmetry in the number of ribs) occurred more frequently if eggs were incubated under cooler conditions. Especially at low incubation temperatures, individuals with scale asymmetries took longer to hatch than did symmetric conspecifics, were smaller in body length at hatching and were slower in trials of locomotor speed. Anti-predator tactics also covaried with scale asymmetry. These patterns suggest that individuals with asymmetric scales should have lower fitness and hence should rarely survive to adulthood in the wild. We tested this prediction by examining 201 field-collected snakes from museum collections. As predicted, scale asymmetries were seen primarily in small snakes, and rarely in larger animals. We interpret these data to suggest that scale asymmetries in this species offer an index of developmental instability and that fitness disadvantages to disrupted embryogenesis impose selection against suboptimal nest-site choice by females.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)177-183
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Evolutionary Biology
Volume24
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • asymmetry
  • development
  • embryo
  • oviparity
  • phenotypic

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