Multimodal communication in courting fiddler crabs reveals male performance capacities.

ABSTRACT: Courting males often perform different behavioural displays that demonstrate aspects of their quality. Male fiddler crabs, Uca sp., are well known for their repetitive claw-waving display during courtship. However, in some species, males produce an additional signal by rapidly stridulating their claw, creating a 'drumming' vibrational signal through the substrate as a female approaches, and even continue to drum once inside their burrow. Here, we show that the switch from waving to drumming might provide additional information to the female about the quality of a male, and the properties of his burrow (multiple message hypothesis). Across males there was, however, a strong positive relationship between aspects of their waving and drumming displays, suggesting that drumming adheres t

SUBMITTER: Mowles SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5383853 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature