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Sex determination

Viviparous lizard selects sex of embryos

Nature volume 412, pages 698–699 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

No one suspected that temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD)1,2,3, whereby the sex of embryos depends on the temperature at which they develop, might occur in viviparous (live-bearing) reptiles, because thermoregulation in the mother results in relatively stable, raised gestation temperatures. But here we show that developing embryos of the actively thermoregulating viviparous skink Eulamprus tympanum are subject to TSD, offering the mother the chance to select the sex of her offspring and a mechanism to help to balance sex ratios in wild populations.

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Figure 1: Influence of gestation temperature on the sex ratio of offspring of the viviparous lizard Eulamprus tympanum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences and Institute of Wildlife Research, University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia

    Kylie A. Robert & Michael B. Thompson

Authors
  1. Kylie A. Robert
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  2. Michael B. Thompson
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Correspondence to Kylie A. Robert.

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Robert, K., Thompson, M. Viviparous lizard selects sex of embryos. Nature 412, 698–699 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35089135

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