Salamanders recognition

Male red-backed salamanders Plethodon cinereus) in Petri dishes were given a choice between own feces and those of another male. They preferred their own. The same was true for washes from the cloacal glands (Simon and Madison, 1984). While this may represent discrimination of own and other, rather than true individual recognition, another experiment showed... 

Dawley, E. M. (1984). Recognition of individual, sex and species odours by salamanders of the Plethodonglutinosus-Pfotdani complex. Animal Behaviour 32,353-361. 

Ovaska, K. (1988). Recognition of conspecific odors by the western red-backed salamander, CanadianjournalofZoology 66,1293-1296. 

Simon, G. S. and Madison, D. M. (1984). Individual recognition in salamanders cloacal odors. Animal Behaviour 32,1017-1020. 

Verrell, P. A., 2003, Population and species divergence of chemical cues that influence male recognition of females in desmognathine salamanders, rAo/ogv 109 577-586. 

Graves, B.M. 1994. The role of nasiolabial grooves and the vomeronasal system in recognition of home area by red-backed salamanders. Anim. Behav., 47, 1216-1219. 

Simon, G.S. Madison, D.M. 1984. Individual recognition in salamanders cloacal odours. Anim. Behav., 32, 1017-1020. 

When tested for recognition between the two types of markings, the salamanders tapped their nasolabial cirri at a significantly faster rate to substrates marked with familiar odors than to those marked with unfamiliar ones. As with Madison s (1975) study, this demonstrated that salamanders of this species also can distinguish among pheromones of conspecifics i.e., individual recognition is possible. 

Jaeger, R. G., 1981, Dear enemy recognition and the costs of aggression between salamanders. Am. Nat., 117 962. 

Forester, D. C., 1979b, Homing to the nest by female mountain dusky salamanders (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) with comments on the sensory modalities essential to clutch recognition,... 

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