Figure 1
Rainfall (above) and temperature (below) average of the capture period of specimens 5489 (weather station 83214), 3897 (weather station 83214), 2384 (weather station 83405) and 3920 (weather station 83214). The arrows indicate the capture periods. (Banco de Dados Meteorológicos para Ensino e Pesquisa, 2020).
Figure 2
Epicrates cenchria testicles histology. [A] Exemplar 5489 (stage 2), captured in a high rainfall and temperature rates period. Seminiferous tubules with evident lumen, without the presence of sperm. The germ epithelium presents Sertoli cells, type A and type B spermatogonia, and primary spermatocytes. Interstitial tissue is little evident, with dense and organized collagen fibers, and evident and grouped Leydig cells. Toluidine blue 1%, obj. 40x. [B] Exemplar 3897 (stage 6), captured in a high temperatures and rainfall period. Seminiferous tubules with little lumen evident and high density of spermatozoa (arrowhead), and cellular debris absence. The germinative epithelium presents cells in different gametogenesis phases. Toluidine blue 1%, obj. 40x. [C] Exemplar 2384 (stage 6), captured in higher temperatures and rainfall period. Seminiferous tubules with evident lumen and spermatozoa presence (arrowhead). Germinative epithelium with cells in different gametogenesis phases, and not evident interstitial tissue, with Leydig cells presence. Toluidine blue 1%, obj. 40x. [D] Exemplar 3920 (stage 6), captured in a high rainfall and temperatures period. Seminiferous tubules with evident lumen, spermatozoa presence (arrowhead) and cellular remains (arrow). The germinative epithelium presents cells in different gametogenesis phases, and evident interstitial tissue, with Leydig cells presence. Toluidine blue 1%, obj. 40x. [E] Exemplar 4187 (stage 8), captured in lower rainfall and temperature rates period. Testicles with seminiferous tubules without evidence, lumen absence, no spermatozoa and cellular debris. In the seminiferous tubules we observe germinative cells in apparent pos-reproductive period apoptosis process, characterized by homogeneous aspect, with chromatin condensed and cytoplasm fragmented and collapsed, without Sertoli cells evident. The interstitial tissue is evident, with Leydig cells grouped. Toluidine blue 1%, obj. 40x. Legend: (S) Sertoli cells, (E1) spermatogonia type A, (E2) spermatogonia type B, (ES1) primary spermatocyte, (ES2) secondary spermatocyte, (EP) spermatid, (ST) seminiferous tubule, (*) Leydig cell.
Figure 3
Epicrates cenchria testicles morphometric analysis graphic representation in different reproductive periods: seminiferous tubules diameter, germinative epithelium height and interstitial tissue height. The boxes represent the mean values (middle line) and the standard deviation, and the lines above and below represent the upper and lower bounds, respectively.
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