AGE STRUCTURE AND LIFE EXPECTANCY IN A Stellagama stellio (LINNAEUS, 1758) POPULATION FROM KuTAHYA, TURKEY

Abstract

The life history traits of the rough-tailed agama, Stellagama stellio (Linnaeus, 1758) in a population from Kutahya, Turkey were described by the skeletochronological method. From a total of 54 individuals, the mean ages +/- standard deviation (SD) of males and females were calculated as 5.03 +/- 2.076 years and 4.79 +/- 1.584 years, respectively, and age distributions were not significantly different between sexes. The age at maturity was 2 years for both sexes. The longevity of females was 8 years, whereas for males it was 9 years. Mean snout-vent length (SVL) +/- SD was 101.7 +/- 9.6 mm in females and 104.9 +/- 14.4 mm in males and did not significantly differ between the two sexes. We examined the sexual dimorphism of S. stellio in relation to the difference in population age structure between the sexes using the skeletochronological method. Male individuals were slightly larger than female individuals at the same age, but this difference was not statistically significant. We also estimated the maximum ages for S. stellio, which agree with other populations in Turkey.