The Herpetological Journal

pp. 59-62
Authors: Brown, Richard P. & Roberts, Neil

Abstract: Lizards may select higher body temperatures after feeding, but rigorous experimental evidence of this is confined to a small number of lineages. Here it was examined in an anguid lizard, namely the slow-worm Anguis fragilis, which is a semi-fossorial cool temperate species that exhibits relatively low field body temperatures. Body temperatures selected by slow-worms in a thermal gradient were low compared with many other lizards (means ranged from 25.3 to 26.4 °C). This indicates that low field body temperatures described previously are not due to thermoconformity in a cool environment. More significantly, selected body temperatures differed between fed and three-day fasted treatments, with an increase of 0.4–1.2 °C being observed after feeding. The magnitude of this increase is similar to that reported for two iguanid lizards, and shows that a postprandial response is also present in this ecologically and phylogenetically distant species.

Keywords: TEMPERATURE SELECTION, THERMOREGULATION, FASTING, ANGUIDAE, FOOD