EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FOR A GONADAL-FAT BODY RELATIONSHIP IN TWO TEIID LIZARDS (AMEIVA FESTIVA, AMEIVA QUADRILINEATA)

¹ The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

1. Percentages of the total body weight comprised by both fat bodies ranged in field samples of female Ameiva quadrilineata from 0.10 to 2.55 and in female A. festiva from 0.10 to 2.39. Percentages from field sample males ranged lower, from 0.07 to 0.89 in A. quadrilineata and from 0.05 to 1.09 in A. festiva.

2. Ovariectomy in both species was followed by an increase in fat body weight compared with field controls and with sham-operated animals. Treatment involving the administration of estrogen in both species subsequent to ovariectomy inhibited any such increase in fat body weight.

3. Orchidectomy in both species was followed by an increase in fat body weight. Specimens of Ameiva quadrilineata which were castrated and also treated with testosterone showed no such increase.

4. Fat body excision in females of both species (sexually mature animals) resulted in the atresia of all deutoplasmically active follicles.

5. An adaptive significance of fat bodies in A. festiva and A. quadrilineata is suggested in terms of material support to the vitellization of ovarian follicles especially during infrequent periods of inactivity.

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