TY - JOUR A1 - Reinhard, Sandy A1 - Renner, Sandra A1 - Kupfer, Alexander T1 - Age and fecundity in Salamandra algira (Caudata: Salamandridae) JF - Salamandra : German journal of herpetology N2 - Amphibians are characterised by potentially indefinite growth. Their body size reflects a trade-off between growth and reproduction. Consequently, growth decreases or even ceases after maturation. Furthermore, the sexes often mature at different ages (sexual bimaturity). We examined fecundity patterns of the terrestrial salamander Salamandra algira (Salamandridae) and tested if age, body size and the fecundity of both sexes are connected and how these reproductive traits interact. We revealed positive correlations for female size, age and fecundity traits, i.e., egg number and volume. The male number of testes lobes was also positively correlated with age. Our study provides basic data on a rarely studied terrestrial salamandrid. Further collection-based research is needed to obtain additional data aiding the understanding of life history evolution of the Salamandridae. KW - Fecundity KW - salamanders KW - Urodela KW - Salamandra KW - skeletochronology Y1 - 2015 SN - 0036-3375 VL - 51 IS - 1 SP - 19 EP - 24 PB - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde CY - Darmstadt ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reinhard, Sandy A1 - Kupfer, Alexander T1 - Sexual dimorphism in a French population of the marbled newt, Triturus marmoratus (Urodela: Salamandridae) JF - Salamandra : German journal of herpetology N2 - Amphibians have developed a large set of life-history strategies and demonstrate an impressive diversity of reproductive patterns compared to other vertebrates. Various selection pressures impact on males and females and see them produce different degrees of sexual dimorphism in order to maximise their reproductive success. In an extended morphometric analysis that included 27 body-and head-related characters, we studied the pattern of sexual dimorphism of a French population of the marbled newt, Triturus marmoratus. We analysed the characters by employing GLM methods (ANCOVA) and found 16 of them to be dimorphic between the sexes. In general, females differ in head-body size, such as snout-vent length, but males rather in shape or body proportions (e.g., limb proportions). The various expressions of sexual size dimorphism among large-bodied marbled newts and allies demonstrate that more than one evolutionary model works simultaneously on different traits. KW - SSD KW - fecundity KW - sexual selection KW - salamanders KW - Triturus KW - morphometrics Y1 - 2015 SN - 0036-3375 VL - 51 IS - 2 SP - 121 EP - 128 PB - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde CY - Darmstadt ER -