Abstract
Maintaining social relationships depends on the ability to recognize partners or group members against other individuals. This is especially important in animals with relatively stable social groups. The amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni is a semi blind fossorial reptile that spends its entire life underground where it interacts with mates and social partners. In this environment, visual cues are limited. Chemosensory cues may rather allow conspecific social and partner recognition. We recorded the number of tongue-flick (TF) rates of T. wiegmanni amphisbaenians to scents of both sexes with different pairing social bonds (familiar vs. unfamiliar) presented on cotton swabs to test discrimination of social groups. As seen from a rise in the number of TFs, males discriminated unfamiliar females from unfamiliar males. This suggests that chemical cues may be used by males to locate new mates. In contrast, females detected scent of unfamiliar conspecifics, but did not show sex discrimination. Both males and females discriminated the scent of an individual with which they had formed a pair bond from an unfamiliar individual of the same sex as the partner. Also, males, but not females, were capable of self-recognition, suggesting that scent marks of males in home ranges may provide individual information in intrasexual relationships. We conclude that conspecific discrimination based on chemical cues may allow the maintenance of social relationships and relatively stable pairs in fossorial reptiles inhabiting visually restricted environments.
Highlights
Whether animals can maintain cohesive and long-term relationships depends on their ability to distinguish between partners, familiar or related individuals, or group members from other unfamiliar individuals [e.g. 1–5]
We examined whether adult amphisbaenians can: a) detect chemical cues from conspecifics, b) determine signaler sex, c) discriminate between a familiar partner and an unfamiliar individual of the same sex, and d) discriminate between self and conspecific odors
Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the amphisbaenian T. wiegmanni is able to discriminate scent of several categories of conspecifics using chemical cues
Summary
Whether animals can maintain cohesive and long-term relationships depends on their ability to distinguish between partners, familiar or related individuals, or group members from other unfamiliar individuals [e.g. 1–5]. Viviparity seems to be a relevant factor in the evolution of sociality in reptiles [10].
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