Meeting Abstract
Salamanders in the family Plethodontidae exhibit a unique tail-straddle walk during courtship that can include the use of sexually dimorphic mental glands and caudal courtship glands. Mental glands are found in the skin of the lower jaw and caudal courtship glands are found in the skin of the dorsal base of the tail in some male plethodontids. Both are thought to increase female receptivity during courtship. While many studies focus on the variation and possible evolution of mental glands, few studies of caudal courtship glands exist and only the male morph A specimens of Eurycea wilderae are known to have caudal courtship glands without the presence of mental glands. This study analyzed museum specimens from genera known to lack mental glands and used standard histological methods to describe caudal courtship glands, or lack of caudal courtship glands. Presence of mature sperm in the Wolffian duct was also analyzed to determine sexual maturity and breeding status of males. Results show that there are caudal courtship glands present in males of species with no mental gland present, indicating the importance of these glands in courtship behavior. More data must be collected on caudal courtship glands before character optimization of these courtship glands on a phylogeny would be useful for studying the evolution of courtship behavior, but our data suggest that caudal courtahip glands may be driving the tail straddle walk in Plethodontidae.
