Courtship behavior

The effects of EDCs on behavior in fish have been more extensively studied than in birds. Examples of the effects of EDCs seen in fish include profound alterations in courtship behavior in male guppies (Poecilia reticulate) exposed to vinclozolin and DDE, including at environmentally relevant concentrations (Baatrup and Junge 2001) and altered courtship behavior in three-spined stickleback exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of EE2 (Bell 2001). In the stickleback studies, exposed males became less aggressive and had a reduced nesting activity, and this was linked with reduced concentrations of the male sex androgen 11-ketotestosterone. Recently,... 

Kubie J.L., Vagvolgyi A. and Halpem M. (1978). Roles of the vomeronasal and olfactory systems in courtship behavior of male Garter snakes. J Comp Physiol Psychol 92, 627-641. 

Arnold, S.J. (1977) The courtship behavior of North American salamanders with some comments on Old World salamandrids. In D. Taylor and S. Guttman (Eds.), The Reproductive Biology of Amphibians. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 141-183. 

Fig. 21.1 Proportion (mean SD) of male red-sided garter snakes displaying courtship behavior to small females and newly-emerged males...

Pheromonal inhibition of male courtship behavior in thebrown tree snake, Bw d irregularis a mechanism for the rej ection of potential mztes.AnimalBehaviourBS, 905-910. 

Steatoda (as Teutana) grossa 61 Linyphiidae w Female web releases courtship behavior in males Gwinner-Hanke, 1970... 

Hogna (as Lycosa) carolinensis Female silk releases courtship behavior in males Farley and Shear, 1973... 

Lycosa) longitarsis draglines and courtship behavior by males 1989... 

Pardosa amentata s Female draglines release courtship behavior in males Richter etal., 1971 Dijkstra, 1976... 

Pardosa hortensis s Female contact pheromone releases courtship behavior in males Robert and Krafft, 1981... 

Pardosa modica w Female cuticle releases courtship behavior in males Kaston, 1936... 

Lycosa) rabida draglines, courtship behavior by males 1968 Tietjen, 1977, 1979a Tietjen and Rovner, 1980... 

Cupiennius salei I 3 Female silk-bound sex pheromone elicits courtship behavior of males Rovner and Barth, 1981 Papke et al., 2000 Tichy et al., 2001... 

Tegenaria atrica E Female silk and cuticle elicit courtship behavior in males Prouvost etal., 1999... 

Mallos trivittata (as trivittatus) S Female silk release courtship behavior in males Jackson, 1978... 

Courtship behavior of Dysdera crocata, a specialized feeder on woodlice (Pso-coptera), is released by contact with nest silk or the cuticle of a live or even dead female. Washing with ether rendered these substrates inactive, suggesting the presence of a lipophilic contact pheromone (Pollard et al., 1987). 

Females of the desert spider Agenelopsis aperta emit a volatile pheromone that attracts conspecihc males (Riechert and Singer, 1995). This pheromone was identified as 8-methyl-2-nonanone (1 Fig. 4.1), a previously unknown arthropod semio-chemical. It was found by headspace analysis and abdominal washings of females 2 weeks after their hnal molt, when they become sexually receptive it was absent in females of other age classes. The pheromone attracted males in a three-choice arena system at doses as low as 500 ng (Papke et al., 2001). Another female-specific ketone, 6-methyl-3-heptanone (2), was not attractive. Very low doses of 1 (10-9 mg/ml applied to a hlter paper placed in empty juvenile female webs) also induced courtship behavior in males (Papke et al., 2001). The normal behavioral sequence was followed, except for phases which required input from the female. The ED50 value (mean effective dose) of 1 was 5.5x 10-4 mg/ml hexane. In contrast, ketone 2 only induced a response in some males at unnaturally high concentrations... 

The social spider Mallos gregalis is arrested by ether-soluble components of silk of conspecifics (Jackson, 1982). However, courtship behavior is not released by female silk (Jackson, 1978), in contrast to the behavior seen with silk of female Mallos trivittata (as trivittatus) silk. Male silk is inactive (Jackson, 1978). Coelotes terrestris males recognized female silk or a substratum on which females had been running (Roland, 1984) and males also exhibited courtship on empty female webs (Krafft, 1978). Courtship behavior, mainly vibratory signals in empty female webs, has also been observed in Amaurobius similis and Amaurobius fenestralis. This behavior is only performed on conspecific webs. A third species, Amaurobius ferox, exhibited no responses to silk cues (Krafft, 1978). 

Anava, A. and Lubin, Y. (1993). Presence of gender cues in the web of a widow spider, Latrodectus revivensis, and a description of courtship behavior. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 9 119-122. 

Ross, K. and Smith, R. L. (1979). Aspects of the courtship behavior of the black widow spider Latrodectus hesperus (Araneae Theridiidae), with evidence for the existence of a contact sex pheromone. Journal of Arachnology 7 69-77. 

An important step toward the correct identification of the sex pheromone of P. americana was the identification of several phytochemicals, such as bomyl acetate and santalol, that stimulated courtship behavior in males (Bowers and Bodenstein, 1971 see p. 196). Some years later, Tahara etal. (1975) and Kitamuta et al. (1976) reported that germacrene-D, extracted from composite plant species, stimulated sexual behavior in males of P. americana and the Japanese cockroach Periplaneta japonica Karny. Persoons etal. (1974, 1976) determined, on the basis... 

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