Olfactory discrimination in scat-piling lizards

Bull, C. Michael; Griffin, Clare; Johnston, Greg

doi:10.1093/beheco/10.2.136

Cited by 53 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Our earlier report (Bull et al 1999), that E. striolata can distinguish between its own scats and those from unfamiliar conspecifics, is confirmed by the results in this paper. This implies that there is some unique signal, a signature, associated with the scats of each individual, such that lizards can recognise and respond differently to scats with different signals.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…We have previously shown that signals in the scats of Egernia striolata and Egernia stokesii have those properties (Bull et al 1999). We deduced that the signal is secreted onto the surface of the scat, probably from a cloacal gland, as it is deposited by the lizard.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Commonly, however, chemical signals (pheromones) are used by lizards (Cooper 1994) for a range of discriminatory tasks. They allow lizards to recognise conspecific from non-conspecific individuals (Cooper 1994), males from females (Cooper and Vitt 1984;Cooper and Trauth 1992;Cooper et al 1994Cooper et al , 1996 self from non-familiar individuals (Graves and Halpern 1991;Alberts 1992;Alberts and Werner 1993;Lopez et al 1997;Bull et al 1999), and kin from nonkin (Werner et al 1987;Bull et al 1994;Main and Bull 1996;Lena and de Fraipont 1998). Few studies have yet documented how these differential recognitions are achieved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also pheromones have been reported from scats of lizards of the Australian scincid genus Egernia (Bull et al 1999), and of the gecko Coleonyx variegatus (Carpenter and Duvall 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Some properties of a pheromone allowing individual recognition, from the scats of an Australian lizard, Egernia striolata

1999

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The Australian lizard, Egernia striolata, can distinguish its own scats from those of unfamiliar conspecific individuals. This appears to be unrelated to diet, because there is no difference in the response to scats from unfamiliar lizards fed on diets that are the same or different from the test lizard. The signal that induces the response is not a visual or tactile property of scat structure, because test lizards respond equally to crushed and intact scats. We suggest that a pheromone is secreted onto the scat as it is produced. Water solutions of scats did not contain signal components that allowed lizards to distinguish their own scats from others. However, solutions of scats in dichloromethane (DCM) retained unique characteristics, and test lizards responded more strongly to the solution from scats of an unfamiliar lizard that to the solution from their own scats. Further fractionation of the DCM solution in pentane and in methanol led to loss of the unique signals needed for individual recognition, but those were restored when the pentane and methanol fractions were recombined. We infer that these lizards can distinguish between scats of different individuals on the basis of signals they receive from a complex combination of chemicals.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also pheromones have been reported from scats of lizards of the Australian scincid genus Egernia (Bull et al 1999), and of the gecko Coleonyx variegatus (Carpenter and Duvall 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Some properties of a pheromone allowing individual recognition, from the scats of an Australian lizard, Egernia striolata

1999

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“…It has been suggested that semiochemical communication plays an important role in the social biology of lizards, for example, in territorial marking and social dominance (Alberts 1992; Alberts et al 1992), self-recognition (Graves and Halpern 1991; Bull et al 1999;Cooper et al 1999; Labra et al 2001), conspecific and sexual recognition (Alberts 1992; Steele and Cooper 1997;Cooper et al 1999; Labra et al 2001), and interspecific discrimination (Cooper and Vitt 1986). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lizard Epidermal Gland Secretions I: Chemical Characterization of the Femoral Gland Secretion of the Sungazer, Cordylus giganteus

et al. 2007

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The giant girdled lizard or sungazer, Cordylus giganteus, is endemic to South Africa. It has been suggested that in this species, as in other lizard species, epidermal glands in the femoral, pre-cloacal regions, and cloacal glands are the main sources of semiochemicals and that these secretions could play an important role at different levels of the social biology of the animals. To gain a better understanding of the nature of the femoral gland secretions of the sungazer, characterization of the constituents of the secretions was carried out.By using GC-MS analysis, in conjunction with auxiliary techniques, such as solventless sample introduction and trimethylsilyl derivatization, 53 relatively involatile compounds, including carboxylic acids, alcohols, ketones, esters, and steroids, were identified in the secretions of both sexes. The study showed that the secretions of male and female sungazers contain only semi-volatile chemicals.

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Spatial and Thermal Factors

Arena

Warwick²

2023

Health and Welfare of Captive Reptiles

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Olfactory discrimination in scat-piling lizards

Cited by 53 publications

References 18 publications

Some properties of a pheromone allowing individual recognition, from the scats of an Australian lizard, Egernia striolata

Some properties of a pheromone allowing individual recognition, from the scats of an Australian lizard, Egernia striolata

Lizard Epidermal Gland Secretions I: Chemical Characterization of the Femoral Gland Secretion of the Sungazer, Cordylus giganteus

Spatial and Thermal Factors

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