Te body size, age structure, and growth of Bosc's fringe-toed lizard, Acanthodactylus boskianus (Daudin, 1802)

Abstract

Using skeletochronology, the age structure of a breeding population portion of Acanthodactylus boskianus (Daudin, 1802)from the southeast of Turkey was studied for the frst time. A total of 21 preserved (9♂♂ , 8 ♀♀ , and 4 juveniles) specimens were usedin this study. According to the analysis of the age structure based on counting lines of arrested growth, ages ranged from 6 to 9 years(mean: 7.44 ± 0.34 years) in males and from 5 to 7 years (mean: 6.13 ± 0.30 years) in females. Juveniles were from 3 to 4 years old. Ageat maturity was estimated to be 4 5 years and the adult survival rates were estimated to be 0.62 for males and 0.56 for females. Te meansnout vent length was calculated as 79.09 ± 1.16 mm in males, 65.90 ± 2.02 in females, and 43.55 ± 2.02 mm in juveniles. Te sexualdimorphism index was calculated as 0.20. Te diference between the sexes in age and size was statistically signifcant.