Premature sperm ejaculation in captive African brown house snake Lamprophis fuliginosus

Abstract

Many ophidians exhibit prolonged copulation, a behaviour hypothesised to be the result of a slow and gradual ejaculation process or a behaviour aimed toward reducing sperm competition (male mate guarding). While observing courtship behaviour in a captive colony of the African brown house snake, Lamprophis fuliginosus, some males excreted a large amount of sperm very rapidly before the inflation and insertion of the males’ hemipenis into the females’ vent. This observation of premature ejaculation suggests that male snakes may be capable of rapid ejaculation and, therefore, likely copulate for an extended period of time to prevent rival males from mating with the same female, thus increasing the chance of paternity for the male.

Keywords:

• Ejaculation
• copulation
• Lamprophis
• sperm competition
• mate guarding

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Sam R. Telford Jr. for identification of the microorganism in the ejaculate.