Females of the four-eyed frog, Pleurodema thaul (Anura, Leptodactylidae), respond behaviourally to conspecific male scent

Abstract

Among amphibians, conspecific chemical communication has been widely studied in Caudata. Adult anurans, by contrast, have received less attention. Recently, it was shown that chemical scents are also relevant for adult anuran intraspecific communication. In this context, we evaluate whether females of the four-eyed frog (Pleurodema thaul) respond to conspecific male scents. We carried out a double choice experiment in a Y-maze. Females were repeatedly presented with the scents of several males versus distilled water. To extract the scent from males, we acoustically stimulated males and then used the water from their aquaria for the experiments. Our data suggest that females are capable of responding behaviourally to male scents, since they spent longer periods in the zones with male scent, rather than in zones with water. We propose that under natural breeding conditions, females of P. thaul may use either their chemical sense or chemical cues to facilitate their encounters with males.

Conspecific disturbance odors act as alarm cues to affect female mate choice in a treefrog

“…Byrne and Keogh (2007) reported that chemical cues of male Australian toadlets (Pseudophryne bibronii) helped females in close-range mate location and might increase the efficacy of message transfer when combined with acoustic signals, which improved the ability of females to find nest site. Similar findings have been reported in studies with other terrestrial or aquatic anurans (Pearl et al 2000;Graham et al 2020;Rojas et al 2021). In contrast, females did not show a preference for undisturbed male odors in the present study, suggesting that the presence of undisturbed male odors may not facilitate mate detection or enhance sexual attractiveness in K. odontotarsus.…”

“…Nevertheless, the role of chemical signals and cues in anuran mate choice has long been overlooked (Woodley 2015). Recently, a few studies have shown that females spend more time investigating male's chemical cues compared with control treatments (Graham et al 2020;Rojas et al 2021). However, how male chemical cues influence mate choice decisions based on acoustic signal design remains to be tested (Gong et al 2020).…”