4.4 Article

Habitat-related differences in the pre-copulatory guarding and copulation behavior of Neohelice granulata (Brachyura, Grapsoidea, Varunidae)

Journal

JOURNAL OF SEA RESEARCH
Volume 87, Issue -, Pages 8-16

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.seares.2013.12.004

Keywords

Pre-copulatory guarding; Copulation; Inter-population differences; Grapsoidea

Funding

  1. Universidad Nacional Mar del Plata [EXA 618/12]
  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) [PIP 176]
  3. CONICET

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Mating behavior strategies of brachyuran crabs are flexible depending on the habitat and social context. We evaluate pre-copulatory guarding in Neohelice granulata and describe the unusual copulatory behavior. Laboratory experiments were conducted to test whether factors such as male size, presence of burrows, a male-biased operational sex ratio (OSR) and female mating history affect the copulation duration in two different study areas. Females initiated a searching behavior approximately 20-26 h before they became receptive by assessing large male burrows and displaying a courtship behavior (flirting) in its entrance. Once the female entered inside the male burrow, pre-copulatory guarding was observed until the female became receptive and successful copulation occurred immediately after. This species shows some very unusual copulatory behavior involving eye-stalk grasping not seen in any other varunid crab. The copulation duration was independent of male size and the presence of burrows, although it was dependent on the study area, the OSR and the female mating history. Thus, copulation duration is a flexible character in this species which varies with habitat and biological factors such as mating history and sex ratio. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.4
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available