Investigation of the age structure and growth of Rana dalmatina (Fitzinger in Bonaparte, 1839)

This thesis study was carried out by using the skeletochronology method to assess the relationships of age and body length of the individuals in a population (located in Özyurt village of Devrek district of Zonguldak province) of the Agile frog (Rana dalmatina). A total of 30 (17 males, 13 females) Agile Frog individuals were studied in this population. The mean age and SVL in the adult individuals belonged to the Özyurt population were 61.54 ± 1.31 mm and 4.50 ± 0.38 for all individuals of R. dalmatina (67.86 ± 1.00 mm and 6.46 ± 0.33 in female specimens and 56.70 ± 1.26 mm and 3.00 ± 2.71 in male specimens, respectively). Intersexual differences in body size (length) were female-biased (SSD = 0.196). The age range varied between 4-8 years in females and 2-6 years in males. It was observed that both adult females and males reached sexual maturity at the age of 2 years. There was a correlation between body size (SVL) and age in both female and male individuals of this species. Key Words: Skeletochronolgy, SVL, von Bertalanffy, Longevity, Zonguldak