Reproductive biology of the horned viper, Cerastes cerastes gasperettii in the central region of Saudi Arabia
Al-Sadoon, M.K. . 2015
The reproductive biology of the horned viper, Cerastes cerastes gasperettii, in Riyadh
region of Saudi Arabia was investigated over a period of one year. Study of reproductive cycle
of male and female C. c. gasperettii revealed that the breeding season is relatively short (April
and May). Thereafter females laid eggs by mid of July and hatching probably had taken place
by the end of September. No activity was observed during winter, this may indicate just a single
clutch per year. Relative testis weight to body weight was drastically increased ( X = 0.88%) during
the peak of reproductive activity (May) where maximal expansion of seminiferous tubules was also
attained during April and May ( X = 209 lm and 191 lm, respectively). Likewise, the ovarian activity
was the highest during May where ovarian parameters were greater in terms of relative ovarian
weight to body weight and ova diameter being 0.46% and 2.29 mm, respectively. Fat body weight
was increased drastically just before the peak of reproductive activity then started to decline during
June. It could be concluded that the harsh desert conditions and similar environments certainly
affect reproductive activity of Saudi Arabian reptiles including snakes.
ھ 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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