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Abstract(s)
Male and female Uca tangeri (the only ddler crab species to inhabit Europe) construct
mudballs from mud excavated from within their burrows. Individual males placed similar
patterns of mudballs each low tide, suggesting that there is some degree of stereotypy. When
mudballs were experimentally moved further from the burrow or closer to it, males only
repositioned those that were moved closer, placing them further away again. However, males
did not replace mudballs that had been experimentally destroyed at the end of the mudballing
phase when they had started to court females. In binary presentation tests, females showed no
signi cant differences in response to mudballs made from different types of mud, or different
numbers of mudballs. These results are consistent with earlier ndings that male mudballs
function as territory boundaries. However, we provide evidence that male mudballs have no
function in female attraction, contrasting with previous studies.
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Citation
Behaviour, 138, 221-234