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1 December 2006 Body Size and Age Structure of Breeding Populations of the Salamander, Hynobius tokyoensis (Caudata: Hynobiidae)
Tamotsu KUSANO, Takehito UEDA, Hikaru NAKAGAWA
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Abstract

Body size and age structure were studied for two breeding populations of the salamander, Hynobius tokyoensis, in the southern Kanto plain of Honshu, Japan. The mean snout-vent lengths (SVLs; measured from the tip of snout to the posterior end of cloaca) of males and females were 64.1 and 66.5 mm at Habu in Tokyo, and 63.1 and 65.3 mm at Isumi in Chiba prefecture, respectively. The differences in SVL were not significant between sexes or populations. The breeding adults, successfully aged by skeletochronology using phalanges, were 4–21 years old. The median age was significantly older in the Habu population (eight years) than in the Isumi population (five years), and the age at first reproduction estimated from the age at which the growth of individuals was greatly retarded was two to six years. The modal age at first reproduction was four years for both sexes in both populations except for males at Isumi (three years). In the latter, age at first reproduction was significantly younger than in the others. We discuss the ecological significance of interpopulational variation in age structure clarified by skeletochronology.

Tamotsu KUSANO, Takehito UEDA, and Hikaru NAKAGAWA "Body Size and Age Structure of Breeding Populations of the Salamander, Hynobius tokyoensis (Caudata: Hynobiidae)," Current Herpetology 25(2), 71-78, (1 December 2006). https://doi.org/10.3105/1345-5834(2006)25[71:BSAASO]2.0.CO;2
Published: 1 December 2006
KEYWORDS
Age at first reproduction
age structure
body size
Hynobius tokyoensis
Skeletochronology
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