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Multiple paternity in wild populations of the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis

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Summary

Many adaptations have arisen in response to spern competition. In garter snakes, males produce copulatory plugs that are thought to prevent such competition. We tested this assumption using paternity exclusion techniques with electrophoretic data from 32 litters of snakes collected from two populations. Multiple paternity was confirmed in 50% of the litters examined (13/22 Michigan litters; 3/10 Wisconsin litters), and we estimate that as many as 72% of the litters may have been multiply sired. The presence of multiple paternity was also confirmed using the technique of genotypic regression. Mean relatedness in litters with evidence of multiple paternity was 0.390±0.053; in litters lacking such evidence mean relatedness was 0.498±0.022. Thus our data reveal a high incidence of multiple paternity in these snakes and suggest that their adaptations to prevent sperm competition are surprisingly ineffective.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Life Science Program (Ethology), University of Tennessee, 37996, Knoxville, TN, USA

    James M. Schwartz

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Tennessee, 37996, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Gary F. McCracken & Gordon M. Burghardt

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, 37996, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Gordon M. Burghardt

  4. Hawaiian Evolutionary Biology Program, Pacific Biomedical Research Center, University of Hawaii, 96822, Honolulu, HI, USA

    James M. Schwartz

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  1. James M. Schwartz
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  2. Gary F. McCracken
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  3. Gordon M. Burghardt
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Schwartz, J.M., McCracken, G.F. & Burghardt, G.M. Multiple paternity in wild populations of the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 25, 269–273 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300053

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