Scent mediation of intraspecific, interspecific, and intergeneric agonistic behavior among sympatric species of voles (Microtinae)

Abstract

The hypothesis that the posterolateral scent glands of male microtine rodents (Muridae) direct the attacks of other males was tested. Montane voles (Microtus montanus) and sagebrush voles (Lagurus curtatus) were established as residents in terraria, and conspecific and heterospecific males, from which posterolateral scent glands had been unilaterally removed, were introduced. More attacks by residents were aimed at the glandular sides than at the glandless sides. Male M. montanus also attacked the unilateral hip gland of longtail voles (M. longicaudus), the growth of which had been induced by exogenous hormone inasmuch as this species does not normally possess these glands. Resident male M. longicaudus did not similarly attack the induced glands of conspecific males. The findings are related to demographic patterns, mterspecific relationships, and the evolutionary development of posterolateral scent glands among microtine rodents.