Male use of chemical signals in sex discrimination of Hawaiian swordtail crickets (genus Laupala)

Autor: Kerry L. Shaw, Glenn F. Stamps
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Animal Behaviour. 156:111-120
ISSN: 0003-3472
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.06.033
Popis: While the mate choice literature has focused primarily on the choices that females make, under certain circumstances males are expected to make mating decisions as well. Such circumstances include when males provide a significant energetic investment in a female or her offspring. Male orthopterans can invest considerable resources in females and have been studied for their mating investment decisions. However, while males provide acoustic information to females, females do not provide reciprocal acoustic information to males. Here, we tested the hypothesis that Laupala males use chemical signals to make mating decisions. We found that males and females have discernable differences in cuticular lipid expression when considering both whole-body and antennae-only extracts. Furthermore, access to the antennae alone resulted in males showing more courtship towards females and more aggressive behaviours towards males. Finally, males showed higher levels of association and courtship behaviour near female-exposed filter paper than they did near male-exposed and control filter paper. These results suggest that Laupala males use chemical signals when deciding whether to initiate courtship and open the possibility that chemical communication has played a role in the diversification of this genus.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: