Age determination by skeletochronology of the Japanese salamander Hynobius kimurae (Amphibia, Urodela)

Abstract

We investigated lines of arrested growth (LAG) of long bone tissues in a total of 157 salamanders of Hynobius kimurae from Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan. The number of LAGs did not differ between femurs, humeri, and toe phalanges. We found that the first LAG is formed after the first overwintering. The number of LAGs varied from 5-14 ((x) over bar=8.8) in reproductive males and 7-12 ((x) over bar=9.4) in mature females in the Tokyo population, while in the Kyoto population, males and females had 6-20 ((x) over bar=9.1) and 7-17 ((x) over bar=9.9) LAGs, respectively. This suggests that the minimum maturation age in males is five yr in Tokyo and six yr in Kyoto, while females of both populations need at least seven yr. The female-larger sexual size dimorphism, recognized in each population of this species seems to be attributable to a greater growth rate in females after the age of male maturity. Body size growth was better in Kyoto than in Tokyo, with average adult SVL being 3.2-3.6 times and 2.2-2.3 times of SVL of metamorphs, respectively. Adults of the Kyoto population, like metamorphs, are smaller than those of the Tokyo population, and such a difference is considered to be derived not from the differential age at maturity or growth rate but from the size difference at metamorphosis. In both populations, clutch size does not correlate to female age, but older and hence larger females tended to lay larger eggs. This suggests that the female fitness increases with age, not through an increase in the number of offspring per clutch, but through an elevation of survivorship per offspring.