The ability to produce viable offspring without recently mating, either through sperm storage or parthenogenesis, can provide fitness advantages under a suite of challenging ecological scenarios. Using genetic analysis, we demonstrate that 3 wild-caught female Tree Skinks (Egernia striolata) reproduced in captivity with no access to males for over a year, and that this is best explained by sperm storage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time female sperm storage has been documented in any monogamous family-living reptile, including social Australian egerniine skinks (from the subfamily Egerniinae). Furthermore, by using paternal reconstruction of genotypes we show that captive-born offspring produced by the same females in the preceding year, presumably without sperm storage, were sired by different males. We qualitatively compared aspects of these females’ mates and offspring between years. The parents of each litter were unrelated, but paternal and offspring genotypes from litters resulting from stored sperm were more heterozygous than those inferred to be from recent matings. Family-living egerniine skinks generally have low rates of multiple paternity, yet our study suggests that female sperm storage, potentially from outside social partners, offers the real possibility of benefits. Possible benefits include increasing genetic compatibility of mates and avoiding inbreeding depression via cryptic female choice. Sperm storage in Tree Skinks, a family-living lizard with a monogamous mating system, suggests that females may bet-hedge through extra-pair copulation with more heterozygous males, reinforcing the idea that females could have more control on reproductive outcomes than previously thought.

中文翻译：

---

一种家庭生活蜥蜴的精子储存，树蜥（Egernia striolata）

通过精子储存或孤雌生殖，无需最近交配即可产生可存活后代的能力，可以在一系列具有挑战性的生态环境下提供适应性优势。通过遗传分析，我们证明了 3 只野生捕获的雌性树蜥 (Egernia striolata) 在圈养中繁殖，一年多没有接触雄性，这最好用精子储存来解释。据我们所知，这是第一次在任何一夫一妻制的家庭爬行动物中记录雌性精子储存，包括澳大利亚社会化的石龙子（来自 Egerniinae 亚科）。此外，通过使用基因型的父系重建，我们表明由同一雌性在前一年产生的圈养出生的后代，可能没有精子储存，是由不同的雄性所生的。我们定性地比较了这些雌性配偶和后代的各个方面。每窝的父母都是不相关的，但来自储存精子的窝的父系和后代基因型比推断来自最近交配的那些更杂合。家庭生活的 egerniine 石龙子通常具有较低的多重亲子关系，但我们的研究表明，可能来自外部社会伙伴的女性精子储存提供了真正的好处可能性。可能的好处包括增加配偶的遗传相容性和通过神秘的女性选择避免近亲繁殖抑郁症。Tree Skinks 是一种家庭生活的蜥蜴，具有一夫一妻制的交配系统，其精子储存表明雌性可能通过与更多杂合雄性的额外配对交配来进行对冲，