Whittier J M, Crews D
Gen Comp Endocrinol. 1986 Jan;61(1):5-12. doi: 10.1016/0016-6480(86)90243-1.
Female red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) exhibit a complex array of behavioral patterns. Females may mate once, more than once, or not at all in the spring of the year, and a high percentage of females may mate in late summer before returning to winter hibernacula. The role of mating in the induction of ovarian growth in this species is complicated by this pattern of spring and late summer mating. Females hibernated in the laboratory that mate on emergence in the spring exhibit higher frequencies of ovarian recrudescence than females that do not mate when exposed to males. Yet neither male courtship nor mating in the spring is required for ovarian development. However, mated and unmated females collected in the field in the spring of the year do not differ in frequencies of ovarian recrudescence. Ovarian growth in unmated females collected in the spring parallels the incidence of mating in the previous late summer. Thus, mating may influence the initiation of ovarian growth, but the effect can occur immediately (from spring mating) or be stored over winter (from late summer mating). Large year-to-year variation in reproductive rates of female red-sided garter snakes suggests that other factors such as nutrition and stored energy reserves may modify the effects of mating on ovarian growth.
雌性红边袜带蛇（Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis）表现出一系列复杂的行为模式。雌性在一年的春季可能交配一次、多次或根本不交配，而且很大比例的雌性可能在夏末返回冬眠地之前进行交配。这种春季和夏末交配的模式使交配在该物种卵巢发育诱导中的作用变得复杂。在实验室中冬眠并在春季出蛰时交配的雌性比暴露于雄性时未交配的雌性表现出更高频率的卵巢复苏。然而，卵巢发育既不需要春季的雄性求偶也不需要交配。但是，在当年春季从野外收集的已交配和未交配雌性在卵巢复苏频率上并无差异。春季收集的未交配雌性的卵巢生长与前一年夏末的交配发生率相似。因此，交配可能会影响卵巢生长的启动，但这种影响可以立即发生（春季交配的结果）或在冬季储存（夏末交配的结果）。雌性红边袜带蛇繁殖率的年际差异很大，这表明其他因素，如营养和储存的能量储备，可能会改变交配对卵巢生长的影响。
