Chorusing by male european fiddler crabs, Uca tangeri: A study of visual communication netwoks

Burford, Fiona R. L.; McGregor, Peter K.; Oliveira, Rui Filipe

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/1325

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Authors

Burford, Fiona R. L.

McGregor, Peter K.

Oliveira, Rui Filipe

Abstract(s)

Chorusing behaviour, in which males aggregate and advertise to attract females, has been extensively studied in acoustically signalling orthopterans and anurans. Species which agregate and signal visually have comparanble behaviour but chorusing aspects has been studied infrequently. Male fiddler crabs (genus Uca) signal by waving and enlarged claw and form signalling aggregations, therefore, they have a potential to form a visual chorus. This study investigated the chorusing behaviour of male eurpoean fiddler crabs, Uca tangeri. The timing of waving by groups of three males (trios) was studied when each male was alone and when all three males were present. When waving in a trio, the male with the largest claw significantly increased the lenght of its interwave interval and some such males tend to wave soon after the other males. This pattern of waving may enhance the effectiveness of the large-claw males signal by avoiding visual object grouping and by allowing females to assess relative claw size more readily.