The reproductive behaviour of the lizard, Ameiva ameiva tobagana
The common ground lizard of Trinidad, the zandolie, is identical with that of Tobago and is Ameiva ameiva tobagana (Brongersma, 1956). Its natural habitat is open and semi-open country, scrub land and light deciduous forest or secondary growth but since it frequently occurs in suburban gardens its behaviour can be easily observed. The following account of its reproductive behaviour is based on observations of nineteen matings made mostly during the period 1958 -1963. The study is purely descriptive, no equipment of any sort other than field glasses having been used.
Publisher Summary The field of kinship appears to have a greater resilience to political and economic forces that change lifestyles and life opportunities. The “modernization” literature stressed the inevitable demise of matrilineality and of extended kinship groupings with the rise of cash-crop economies, occupational diversification, and capitalism. The nuclear conjugal family was accepted as the inevitable outcome of urbanization and industrialization. This chapter examines the case for persistence among the matrilineal Plateau and Gwembe Tonga of southern Zambia, many of whom are living in the cities as wage workers and are dependent on a cash income. Gwembe and Plateau Tonga have not regarded their kinship systems as immutable but have had little need to change formal rules. They have used their kinship systems to obtain their objectives.