Abstract
Sexual and species recognition, along with sexual color dimorphism, play an important role in the reproduction of many animal species. In this article, it was investigated if males of the dimorphic Neotropical damselfly Acanthagrion truncatum are able to recognize mates and differentiate them between co-specific males and hetero-specific females of sympatric species. The results showed misguided mating attempts from males towards other males and Homeoura chelifera females. They also seem able to recognize A. lancea and Telebasis carmesina females as hetero-specifics. This study support the hypothesis that male- male interactions are misdirected sexual behavior and that sympatric morphologically similarspecies may represent visual interference for mate searching males.
Highlights
Sexual color dimorphism (SCD) is common among animals, resulted from male-male and malefemale interactions to signal the individual sexual identity (ANDERSSON, 1994)
The results (Table 1) showed that there is no difference between male response to male and female co-specifics (Chi-square= 2.403; df = 5; p = 0.3)
The results showed that males discriminate between co-specific females and the ones of A. lancea (Chi-square = 15.013; df = 5; p = 0.005) and T. carmesina (Chi-square = 15.252; df = 5; p = 0.0004)
Summary
Sexual color dimorphism (SCD) is common among animals, resulted from male-male and malefemale interactions to signal the individual sexual identity (ANDERSSON, 1994). Such dimorphism is considered to be influenced by means of sexual selection and male-male competition (DARWIN, 1871; ANDERSSON, 1994), resulting in a crucial part of animal reproduction: mate recognition. Male-male interactions are considered to be a mate recognition mistake, because males interact with other males as if they were females in an attempt to mate with them. The presence of sympatric coenagrionids may result in intense interference visual signals that may pose another problem for mate-searching males (MILLER; FINCKE, 1999)
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