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IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, INCUBATION PROTOCOLS, AND EGG CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GANGES SOFTSHELL TURTLE (ASPIDERETES GANGETICUS).
Nikhil Whitaker
27 March 2006:CH, 2006(1): 1–6

Reproductive biology of Aspideretes gangeticus was studied between 1986 and 2001. Clutch size averaged 17.9 eggs and ranged between six to thirty-five eggs. Egg length averaged 30.6 mm, egg width averaged 30.22 mm, and egg weight averaged 16.85 g. Clutch volume averaged 253.75 ml. No significant difference was observed in clutch size between dry and wet seasons. Of the various incubation protocols tested, one that involved transitional temperatures of 28º–31ºC, to chilling at 15º–18ºC, and then 23º–26ºC resulted in the highest hatching success. Aspideretes gangeticus exhibit two forms of development arrest during incubation, embryonic diapause early in incubation and embryonic aestivation in the latter trimester of incubation. The two Aspideretes gangeticus females that produced clutches for the current study produced eggs with a high fertility percentage throughout the fifteen years for which they stored sperm.