After years of speculation, scientists are finally able to confirm that a native Tasmanian skink can change sex before it's born — and it may make this lizard more vulnerable to climate change.
abc.net.au/news/landmark-study-finds-skinks-change-sex-before-birth/101204032You may have seen them around — small spotted skinks that scatter out from rocks underfoot as you enjoy a hike on a hot day on Tasmania's east coast.Some egg-laying reptiles are also capable of making the change but so far the Tasmanian skink is the only live-bearing reptile found to be able to do so
"During cooler temperatures in this species, the female genotype will develop as a male," molecular ecologist Dr Peta Hill said.But so far, scientists have only been able to prove the reversal goes one way — from female to male in cooler temperatures. The finding came after some interesting field work — Dr Hill went out to Ben Lomond National Park and had to "fish" for pregnant lizards.
In cooler temperatures, females will develop as a male, but it is yet to be determined if the reverse is true.The quirk has everything to do with what temperature will be favoured by the unborn skink — male skinks tend to cope better in the cold, and female skinks in the heat."Climate change is not just about climate warming, it's about the climate becoming more variable and so that's going to affect the distribution of this species across Tasmania," Dr Hill said.
The study only saw female-to-male reversals in cooler temperatures but, while sex reversals the opposite way did not occur during the study, that does not mean it does not happen. The Tasmanian spotted snow skink can change sex in utero depending on the temperature the mother experiences."If climate drives a population to be biased, invariably there will be a negative impact on the populations at some point because you need a male and a female to make offspring. So, in simple terms, you generally have equal sex ratios of adults," Dr Wapstra said.
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