Dionisio-da-Silva W.1, Albuquerque C.M.R., de2, Araujo Lira A.F., de3. 2023. Reproductive investment in the Brazilian scorpion Tityus pusillus Pocock, 1893 (Scorpiones: Buthidae): Do larger females produce better offspring? // Invertebrate Zoology. Vol.20. No.1: 90–96 [in English].
1 Programa de Pós-Graduaзгo em Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, CEP 58051-090, Joгo Pessoa, PB, Brazil. E-mail: weltonxdc@gmail.com
2 Programa de Pós-graduaçäo em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Zoologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, CEP 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
3 Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, CEP 58175-000, Cuité, PB, Brazil.
doi: 10.15298/invertzool.20.1.04
ABSTRACT. Large females are usually associated with substantial provisioning of offspring. However, the finitude of resources generally results in a trade-off between investment in offspring size and number in many taxa. Such incidences are poorly investigated in iteroparous species, which produce multiple broods throughout their lifespan. Thus, we produced a model to predict how maternal traits (female size and mass) are associated with offspring traits (number and mass) in an iteroparous scorpion. To this end, we used a sample of 166 juveniles from 20 Tityus pusillus Pocock, 1893 females collected from a fragment in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. Our results showed that maternal traits (e.g. size and mass) were not correlated with provisioning, and no statistical correlation was found between total offspring mass and offspring size. Similar to congeneric species, T. pusillus appears to invest in more rather than heavier newborns. In addition to the deferred fertilization exhibited by this species, such reproductive traits have the potential to ensure reproductive success and high population abundance.
KEY WORDS: body size; litter size; offspring fitness; resource allocation; size-number tradeoff.