Abstract
Among amphibians, conspecific chemical communication has been widely studied in Caudata. Adult anurans, by contrast, have received less attention. Recently, it was shown that chemical scents are also relevant for adult anuran intraspecific communication. In this context, we evaluate whether females of the four-eyed frog (Pleurodema thaul) respond to conspecific male scents. We carried out a double choice experiment in a Y-maze. Females were repeatedly presented with the scents of several males versus distilled water. To extract the scent from males, we acoustically stimulated males and then used the water from their aquaria for the experiments. Our data suggest that females are capable of responding behaviourally to male scents, since they spent longer periods in the zones with male scent, rather than in zones with water. We propose that under natural breeding conditions, females of P. thaul may use either their chemical sense or chemical cues to facilitate their encounters with males.
Highlights
Animal communication is a process by which information is transferred from a sender to a receiver, provoking in the receiver a behavioural or physiological reaction (Dusenbery 1992)
In amphibians, most knowledge regarding conspecific chemical communication has been developed for Caudata, where scents have a significant role in different aspects of their social life (Park and Sung 2006; Houck et al 2007, 2008)
It was observed that males of Plethodon shermani produce a sexual pheromone denominated Plethodon Receptivity Factor (PRF) that
Summary
Animal communication is a process by which information is transferred from a sender to a receiver, provoking in the receiver a behavioural or physiological reaction (Dusenbery 1992). This communication process is essential for social interactions (e.g. agonistic interactions, courtship rituals), and can depend on different channels (e.g. acoustic, visual, vibrational, chemical), which might be utilised independently or in association (Partan 2004; Bradbury and Vehrencamp 2011). Chemical communication is one of the oldest systems of communication in the animal kingdom, and it has been studied across ontogenetic stages and in different social situations across several taxa (Gorman and Mills 1984; Roberts et al 2003; Wyatt 2014). It was observed that males of Plethodon shermani produce a sexual pheromone denominated Plethodon Receptivity Factor (PRF) that
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