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Age and body size of Salamandrella keyserlingii (Caudata: Hynobiidae): a difference in altitudes, latitudes, and temperatures

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Abstract

The debate surrounding Bergmann’s rule, in which the body size of animals is predicted to be larger in cooler environments, is still open concerning ectotherms. Our goal was to test this rule in the broadest ranging amphibian species Salamandrella keyserlingii. We determined age and body size in a cooler region (Darhadyn, Mongolia: mean yearly air temperature = –8.31 °C) using skeletochronology, and compared their differences in altitude, latitude, and temperature with those of a warmer area (Kushiro, Japan: 7.98 °C). In Darhadyn, both sexes reached sexual maturity at 5–6 years of age (growth coefficient: male = 0.585, female = 0.266), 2–3 years later than those in Kushiro (male = 1.341, female = 1.129). Mean body size was smaller in Darhadyn (53.08 mm) than in Kushiro (57.63 mm) for males despite their constant metamorphic size around 30 mm. We also analyzed data available from published studies for 27 populations within the geographic range of this species from 43 to 69°N across a 2,900-km long latitudinal gradient. The analysis indicated an intraspecific tendency to decrease body size with increased latitude from 43 to 57°N, to increase size from 57 to 69°N, and to decrease body size with decreased temperature from 8 to –7 °C and increase size from –7 to –15 °C. This pattern does not follow the intraspecific extension of Bergmann’s rule and may follow the converse of Terentjev’s optimum rule—a rule formulated to be an inverted-U shaped curve between increased latitude (or decreased temperature) and increased body size.

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Acknowledgments

Cordial thanks are due to T. Hongorzul, E. Hurelbaatar, B. Taivanjargal, and A. Uuganbayar for their field assistance, T. Kusano for giving us information about literature, H. Ota for his advice on species names, and A. V. Andreev, A. M. Bassarukin, D. I. Berman, O. V. Grigoriev, V. G. Ishchenko, N. G. Ostashko, N. A. Shchepina, and V. L. Vershinin for permitting us to use their unpublished data. We are indebted to D. M. Sever and C. Angelini for critically reviewing the manuscript. We express our gratitude for the constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers and the proofreading and editing of the final version of the manuscript by T. A. G. Rittenhouse. This study was supported financially in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Fund for Global Environment (Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan) (M. H.), the Aeon Environment Foundation (Japan) (M. H.), and the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (RFBR.08-04-01184) (L. B.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Institute, Faculty of Science, Niigata University, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan

    Masato Hasumi

  2. Department of Herpetology, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

    Leo J. Borkin

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  1. Masato Hasumi
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  2. Leo J. Borkin
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Correspondence to Masato Hasumi.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 3 Mean yearly air temperature (°C) from 1986 to 2004 (n = 19) in each population. Each temperature was calculated based on the absence of a significant difference between 19 years with a one-way ANOVA by the use of mean daily air temperatures as a within-group difference. In Populations 6–8, 10, 12, and 23, only mean temperature was shown
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Appendix 2

Table 4 Morphometric variables of body size characteristics for each sex or age class. These variables are expressed by mean measurements±SD (range) of body mass (BM), head width (HW), tail height (TH), snout–anterior vent length (SAVL), snout–posterior vent length (SPVL), and tail length (TL) in adult males (M), adult females (F), unsexed individuals (U), juveniles (J: over one year old), and metamorphs or newly metamorphosed juveniles (N: less than one year old)
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Hasumi, M., Borkin, L.J. Age and body size of Salamandrella keyserlingii (Caudata: Hynobiidae): a difference in altitudes, latitudes, and temperatures. Org Divers Evol 12, 167–181 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-012-0091-5

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