Courtship Displays Are Condition-Dependent Signals That Reliably Reflect Male Quality in Greek Tortoises,Testudo graeca

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Pellitteri-Rosa ◽  
Roberto Sacchi ◽  
Paolo Galeotti ◽  
Manuela Marchesi ◽  
Mauro Fasola
Keyword(s):  
Male Quality ◽  
Testudo Graeca ◽  
Courtship Displays

scholarly journals Robotic crabs reveal that female fiddler crabs are sensitive to changes in male display rate

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 20170695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie L. Mowles ◽  
Michael D. Jennions ◽  
Patricia R. Y. Backwell
Keyword(s):  
Strong Preference ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Fiddler Crabs ◽  
Male Display ◽  
Mixed Responses ◽  
Courtship Displays

Males often produce dynamic, repetitive courtship displays that can be demanding to perform and might advertise male quality to females. A key feature of demanding displays is that they can change in intensity: escalating as a male increases his signalling effort, but de-escalating as a signaller becomes fatigued. Here, we investigated whether female fiddler crabs, Uca mjoebergi , are sensitive to changes in male courtship wave rate. We performed playback experiments using robotic male crabs that had the same mean wave rate, but either escalated, de-escalated or remained constant. Females demonstrated a strong preference for escalating robots, but showed mixed responses to robots that de-escalated (‘fast’ to ‘slow’) compared to those that waved at a constant ‘medium’ rate. These findings demonstrate that females can discern changes in male display rate, and prefer males that escalate, but that females are also sensitive to past display rates indicative of prior vigour.

Duration of courtship displays corresponds to social status in male greater sac-winged bats (Saccopteryx bilineata)

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 589-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Knörnschild ◽  
A. G. Fulmer ◽  
O. von Helversen
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Display Duration ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Male Age ◽  
Saccopteryx Bilineata ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Courtship Displays

In species with complex courtship displays, male courtship performance is often used by females to assess male quality. The greater sac-winged bat ( Saccopteryx bilineata (Temminck, 1838)) lives in a harem-based resource-defence polygyny. Courting males perform complex hover displays in front of roosting females. Males differ in their social status by having females permanently or sporadically in their day-roost territory (harem males vs. nonharem males). We compared the frequency and duration of hover displays from harem and nonharem males in free-living colonies. Male social status was correlated with male age and the number of females being courted; thus, these two effects were removed to compare the frequency and duration of hover displays for harem and nonharem males. The frequency of hover displays per hour did not differ between harem and nonharem males, whereas the mean duration of hover displays was linked to male social status, with harem males exhibiting significantly longer hover displays than nonharem males. When analysing each social status separately, the hover display duration of both harem and nonharem males was neither influenced by the number of competing males nor by the number of females being courted. Male age did not influence the hover display duration of nonharem males; however, it had a significant effect on the hover display duration of harem males, with older harem males hovering significantly longer than younger harem males. Because females are free to choose in which male territory to roost, they might use the duration of hover displays to evaluate the quality of courting males.

Evolution of rhythm as an indicator of mate quality

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 369-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva M.F. Van Den Broek ◽  
Peter M. Todd
Keyword(s):  
Quality Indicators ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Mate Quality ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Evolutionary Simulation ◽  
Courtship Signals ◽  
Courtship Displays ◽  
Repeating Patterns

Regular rhythmic repetition is a basic element of music in all human cultures and appears in numerous animal courtship signals. We propose that rhythm can function in courtship displays as an indicator of underlying mate quality. We constructed a model to explore whether regularly repeating patterns can serve as amplifiers of the performer's underlying neural quality. Our co-evolutionary simulation comprises male “songs” and female preferences, represented by bit strings. Males produce songs by copying their inborn template with some noise, depending on their quality. The females in turn assess male quality by comparing the male song to their own template. Our model shows that rhythmic songs enable greater discrimination with regard to quality than non-rhythmic songs under a variety of circumstances, thereby implying that rhythmic signals may evolve as useful mate quality indicators.

Reconstructions of the past distribution of Testudo graeca mitochondrial lineages in the Middle East and Transcaucasia support multiple refugia since the Last Glacial Maximum

2021 ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Oguz Turkozan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Testudo Graeca ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Past ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality ◽  
Multiple Refugia ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

A cycle of glacial and interglacial periods in the Quaternary caused species’ ranges to expand and contract in response to climatic and environmental changes. During interglacial periods, many species expanded their distribution ranges from refugia into higher elevations and latitudes. In the present work, we projected the responses of the five lineages of Testudo graeca in the Middle East and Transcaucasia as the climate shifted from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Mid – Holocene), to the present. Under the past LGM and Mid-Holocene bioclimatic conditions, models predicted relatively more suitable habitats for some of the lineages. The most significant bioclimatic variables in predicting the present and past potential distribution of clades are the precipitation of the warmest quarter for T. g. armeniaca (95.8 %), precipitation seasonality for T. g. buxtoni (85.0 %), minimum temperature of the coldest month for T. g. ibera (75.4 %), precipitation of the coldest quarter for T. g. terrestris (34.1 %), and the mean temperature of the driest quarter for T. g. zarudyni (88.8 %). Since the LGM, we hypothesise that the ranges of lineages have either expanded (T. g. ibera), contracted (T. g. zarudnyi) or remained stable (T. g. terrestris), and for other two taxa (T. g. armeniaca and T. g. buxtoni) the pattern remains unclear. Our analysis predicts multiple refugia for Testudo during the LGM and supports previous hypotheses about high lineage richness in Anatolia resulting from secondary contact.

Ecomorphology of tortoises (Testudo graeca complex) from the Araks River Valley

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Marine Arakelyan ◽  
Oğuz Türkozan ◽  
Nasim Hezaveh ◽  
James F. Parham
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Testudo Graeca

Communication of Male Quality in Owl Hoots

2007 ◽  
Vol 169 (4) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Loïc A. Hardouin ◽  
Reby ◽  
Bavoux ◽  
Burneleau ◽  
Bretagnolle
Keyword(s):  
Male Quality

Food choice of an Algerian population of the spur‐thighed tortoise,Testudo graeca

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachid Rouag ◽  
Chahira Ferrah ◽  
Luca Luiselli ◽  
Ghoulem Tiar ◽  
Slim Benyacoub ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Testudo Graeca ◽  
Algerian Population

scholarly journals Molecular Evidence of Hemolivia mauritanica, Ehrlichia spp. and the Endosymbiont Candidatus Midichloria Mitochondrii in Hyalomma aegyptium Infesting Testudo graeca Tortoises from Doha, Qatar

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Patrícia F. Barradas ◽  
Clara Lima ◽  
Luís Cardoso ◽  
Irina Amorim ◽  
Fátima Gärtner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Health ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Febrile Illness ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Large Animal ◽  
Hard Tick ◽  
Testudo Graeca ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Organ System Failure ◽  
Midichloria Mitochondrii

Tick-borne agents constitute a growing concern for human and animal health worldwide. Hyalomma aegyptium is a hard tick with a three-host life cycle, whose main hosts for adults are Palearctic tortoises of genus Testudo. Nevertheless, immature ticks can feed on a variety of hosts, representing an important eco-epidemiological issue regarding H. aegyptium pathogens circulation. Hyalomma aegyptium ticks are vectors and/or reservoirs of various pathogenic agents, such as Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Babesia and Hepatozoon/Hemolivia. Ehrlichia and Anaplasma are emergent tick-borne bacteria with a worldwide distribution and zoonotic potential, responsible for diseases that cause clinical manifestations that grade from acute febrile illness to a fulminant disease characterized by multi-organ system failure, depending on the species. Babesia and Hepatozoon/Hemolivia are tick-borne parasites with increasing importance in multiple species. Testudo graeca tortoises acquired in a large animal market in Doha, Qatar, were screened for a panel of tick-borne pathogens by conventional PCR followed by bidirectional sequencing. The most prevalent agent identified in ticks was Hemolivia mauritanica (28.6%), followed by Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii (9.5%) and Ehrlichia spp. (4.7%). All samples were negative for Babesia spp. and Hepatozoon spp. Overall, 43% of the examined adult ticks were infected with at least one agent. Only 4.7% of the ticks appeared to be simultaneously infected with two agents, i.e., Ehrlichia spp. and H. mauritanica. This is the first detection of H. mauritanica, Ehrlichia spp. and Candidatus M. mitochondrii in H. aegyptium ticks collected from pet spur-thighed tortoises, in Qatar, a fact which adds to the geographical extension of these agents. The international trade of Testudo tortoises carrying ticks infected with pathogens of veterinary and medical importance deserves strict control, in order to reduce potential exotic diseases.

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