Reproductive Cycle of the Western Three-striped Skink, Trachylepis occidentalis (Squamata: Scincidae), from Southern Africa

Abstract. Males of Trachylepis occidentalis follow a testicular cycle with a period of sperm formation in spring and early summer followed by an abrupt regression in February. Recovery (recrudescence) promptly begins and continues into early spring. Females contained enlarged ovarian follicles (> 5 mm) in summer. Some females began to deposit yolk the previous summer from which young were born. Not all females reproduce annually. Mean clutch size for five females was 6.0 ± 1.2, range: 5-8. Reports of oviparity versus viviparity for T. occidentalis in the literature raise the question of possible geographic differences in the mode of female reproduction.