Reproduction of Ptychoglossus bicolor (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) in an Andean Coffee Shade Plantation in Colombia

The pattern of annual reproductive activity and other reproductive characteristics were studied in a population of the gymnophthalmid lizard Ptychoglossus bicolor that inhabits the leaf-litter of an organic coffee shade plantation located on the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. Males and females reached sexual maturity at a similar body size (approximately 45 mm snout vent length); however, adult males were significantly larger than females in body size, body mass, and head size. All adult males showed convoluted epididymides, enlarged testes with continuous spermatogenesis and spermiogenesis throughout the year. However, testis mass varied significantly among months and between seasons and was positively correlated with the amount of rainfall. Females were reproductively active (vitellogenic, ovigerous, and vitellogenic and ovigerous simultaneously) during all months of the year, and clutch size was always two. Abdominal fat bodies did not vary over time, neither in males nor in females, Together with the observation of juveniles in most months, this indicates a pattern of continuous reproductive activity and confirms the production of multiple clutches in this population. This aseasonal reproductive pattern suggests a continuous availability of resources that can be supplied in favourable conditions offered by the organic farming.