Honors Program
University Honors
Date of Award
5-2014
Thesis Professor(s)
Tom W. Ecay
Thesis Professor Department
Physiology
Thesis Reader(s)
James R. Stewart, Joy E. Wachs
Abstract
One hypothesis explaining the numerous independent evolutionary transitions from oviparity to viviparity among squamates (snakes and lizards) proposed that squamate embryonic development is independent of eggshell calcium. Recent research showed at least 25% of the calcium in hatchling oviparous squamates is extracted from the shell. Though not a direct test, these results are inconsistent with the hypothesis. To directly test the hypothesis, we removed eggshell calcium (through peeling) early in development of Pantherophis guttatus (corn snake) eggs. Survivorship to hatching did not differ between peeled and intact eggs. Yet hatchlings from peeled eggs were shorter (273.6 ± 3.4 vs. 261.0 ± 3.7 mm, p=0.0028, n=16), lighter (6.36 ±0.22 vs. 5.75 ± 0.23 g, p=0.0158, n=16), and had reduced calcium (40.8 ± 1.7 vs. 30.5 ± 1.8 mg, p
Document Type
Honors Thesis - Withheld
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Frye, Hannah, "Eggshell calcium regulates calcium transport protein expression in an oviparous snake" (2014). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 237. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/237
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
Cellular and Molecular Physiology Commons, Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Commons, Systems and Integrative Physiology Commons