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Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on February 17, 2006
Journal of Heredity 2006 97(2):150-157; doi:10.1093/jhered/esj017
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© The American Genetic Association. 2006. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Multiple Paternity and Breeding System in the Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus

Jamie C. Moon, Earl D. McCoy, Henry R. Mushinsky, and Stephen A. Karl

From the Department of Biology, University of South Florida, SCA 110, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620. Jamie C. Moon is now at the Department of Biology, University of North Florida, 4567 St. John's Bluff Road South, Jacksonville, FL 32224. Stephen A. Karl is now at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, PO Box 1346, Kane'ohe, HI 96744

Address correspondence to S. A. Karl at the address above, or e-mail: skarl{at}hawaii.edu.

Little is known about the reproductive behaviors and the actual outcomes of mating attempts in the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus). We examined the mating system and reproductive behaviors of a population of gopher tortoises in central Florida. Using microsatellite markers, we assigned fathers to the offspring of seven clutches and determined that multiple fathers were present in two of the seven clutches examined. We found that gopher tortoises exhibited a promiscuous mating system with larger males fertilizing the majority of clutches. The advantage of larger males over smaller males in fertilizing females may be a result of larger males winning access to females in aggressive bouts with other males or larger males may be more attractive to females. Clutches produced by larger females tended to be sired by a single male, whereas clutches of smaller females tended to be sired by multiple males.


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