Sexual behaviour of the Montandon's newt, Triturus montandoni (Boulenger) (Caudata: Salamandridae)

Abstract

In its general pattern the sexual behaviour of Triturus montandoni most resembles that of Triturus helveticus. The courtship consists of three phases: orientation, static display and retreat display, followed by a spermatophore transfer phase. During display the male performs three tail movements: the fan, the whip, and the wave. The relative frequencies of tail movements and the duration of fanning bouts are the main difference between T montandoni, T. helveticus, and T. vulgaris. The phylogenetic relationships between these three species are discussed.

Alternative Mating Tactics in the Alpine Newt Triturus alpestris alpestris

“…Luring is a common tactic in animals where it is used to catch prey and also to attract a sexual partner (Wickler, 1968). In Salamandrids, several socalled luring behaviors have been described, such as flamenco and distal lure (Wambreuse and Bels, 1984;Pecio and Rafinski, 1985;Giacoma and Sparreboom, 1987;Arntzen and Sparreboom, 1989;Rafinski and Pecio, 1992), the for mer being associated with an unresponsive fe male and poor sperm transfer success in T. boscai (Rafinski and Pecio, 1992). Our results for the alpine newt indicate that the luring tactic (i.e., depositing a spermatophore in front of an un responsive female and executing prey-mimick ing movements) is also less successful in terms of sperm transfer than the waiting tactic (i.e., waiting for a female to respond).…”

The sexual behaviour of the pygmy newt, Triturus pygmaeus

“…There is no exact equivalent behaviour described in the other species, although a similar alert behaviour, also known as exhibition, was described for T. marmoratus (Sparreboom and Teunis, 1990). In small newts, an initial posture of the male with the head pointing towards the female has been reported at the very beginning of courtship (Pecio and Ra ński, 1985;Ra ński and Pecio, 1992). In T. vulgaris, a ready posture was described, while moving-tothe-front (Halliday, 1974), and in T. cristatus a ready posture or cat-buckle was described as a characteristic courtship behaviour alternating with other male movements (Green, 1989;Sparreboom and Teunis, 1990;Zuiderwijk, 1990).…”

“…Sparreboom and Teunis (1990) classi ed the same tail movements as rocking. Small newts fan with the tail almost parallel with the ank (Halliday, 1974(Halliday, , 1977Pecio and Ra ński, 1985;Giacoma and Sparreboom, 1987;Ra ński and Pecio, 1992;Faria, 1993) and sustain a very rapid beating of the tail tip; 8 to 15 beats/s in T. boscai (Faria, 1993), 6.3 beats/s in T. montandoni (Pecio and Ra ński, 1985). This produces a current of water that probably directs odour towards the female (Halliday, 1974).…”

“…Sexual behaviour in our population of T. pygmaeus differed in several ways: rocking was not observed, but stationary males simply moved the exed tail in a slow fanning. The frequent and powerful tail lashes in T. marmoratus usually touched the female's head or body (Zuiderwijk, 1990), while whip in T. pygmaeus was less vigorous and never touched the female, as described for T. vulgaris (Halliday, 1974(Halliday, , 1977 and T. montandoni (Pecio and Ra ński, 1985;Michalak, 1996). The males of T. marmoratus elevate the body and lean over the female during tail lash and lean-in (Zuiderwijk, 1990).…”

“…It is absent from courtship display in T. cristatus (Arntzen and Sparreboom, 1989;Green, 1989), and only occasional pushbacks to the female were reported in T. marmoratus (Sparreboom and Teunis, 1990). In other species of Triturus, courtship encounters start after approaching and snif ng of both partnerts (Halliday, 1974;Pecio and Ra ński, 1985;Giacoma and Sparreboom, 1987;Green, 1989;Zuiderwijk, 1990;Ra ński and Pecio, 1992;Faria, 1993); pygmy newts, however, frequently start with males in exhibition, standing or moving around the female, but not approaching her.…”