The Herpetological Journal

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33256/36.4.267272

pp. 267-272

Authors: Henrique Bartolomeu Braz & Selma Maria Almeida-Santos

Abstract: Snakes exhibit two primary tactics during the breeding season: male-male combat and non-agonistic aggregations around reproductive females. However, the mating tactics of many species, particularly within the earliest-diverging snake lineages, remain poorly known. This knowledge gap hinders our understanding of the evolution of snake mating systems. Here, we document a multi-male/multi-female aggregation involving five males and two females of the South American striped blind snake, Amerotyphlops brongersmianus (Typhlopidae: Scolecophidia). Both females subsequently laid fertile eggs, thus confirming recent mating activity. We then critically reviewed literature reports of aggregation in scolecophidians to explore the evolution of mating tactics. We found various instances of mating aggregations in scolecophidians, indicating that this tactic is widespread within the group. We propose that mating aggregation is ancestral in Scolecophidia and evolved early in the evolutionary history of snakes. We encourage researchers to be vigilant and report observations of mating aggregations in snakes, especially in poorly known fossorial lineages. These records will help complement and validate current knowledge of reproductive behaviour and allow for testing the hypotheses proposed here.

Keywords: reproductive behaviour, courtship, fossorial snake, sexual aggregation, mating system