Intensive and efficient egg-laying tempo of the parthenogenesis mourning gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris

Abstract

Although suffered from many evolutionary disadvantages, asexual species benefit from their high efficiency to build clonal populations in a novel habitat. Here we report that a parthenogenetic mourning gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris continuously laid 12 clutches within two years. The egg-laying period lasted from mid-April to late October, and the egg-laying interval ranged between 24 and 73 days with a mean of 34.4 days. Referring to this fecundity, a female gecko could reproduce up to 24 clonal female offspring every year, and expand the population size in an efficient way much faster than most bisexual species. The intensive and efficient egg-laying tempo, associated with the parthenogenetic breeding mode, are crucial factors which facilitated their successful colonisation into many islands. Keywords: clonal population, cost of sex, invariant clutch size, invasive species