Social aggregation by thick-tailed geckos (Nephrurus milii, Gekkonidae): does scat piling play a role?
Bansi Shah A B C , Simon Hudson A and Richard Shine AA School of Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
B Present address: PO Box 2189, Warwick, WA 6024, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: bansi@conservationsafaris.com
Australian Journal of Zoology 54(4) 271-275 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO06012
Submitted: 18 January 2006 Accepted: 2 June 2006 Published: 11 August 2006
Abstract
Communal deposition of faeces into scat piles plays a role in pheromonal communication among group members in many ‘social’ vertebrates, including the scincid lizard Egernia stokesii. How general is this apparent link between scat piling and sociality? Thick-tailed geckos (Nephrurus milii, Gekkonidae) are large nocturnally active lizards that are widely distributed across southern Australia. They spend the daylight hours inactive inside retreat sites, typically rock crevices or burrows. Unusually among geckos, these animals often form groups of several individuals at these times. Our observations of captive N. milii showed that they also form discrete scat piles. However, habitat-selection experiments suggested that adding scats to a crevice did not modify the lizards’ probability of using that crevice. Thus, although Nephrurus milii scat pile (at least in captivity), communal faeces deposits do not appear to serve a social role in this taxon.
Acknowledgments
We thank D. Brown, S. Comber, M. Kearney, N. Kearney and P. Shah for assistance with collecting geckos in the field, and M. Kearney for extensive advice and comments. This work was carried out in accordance with the University of Sydney Animal Ethics Committee and under a scientific licence from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Financial support was provided by the Australian Research Council (to R. Shine).
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