Meeting Abstract

12.2  Jan. 4  The role of temporal properties of the advertisement calls in the phonotactic response of territorial Allobates femoralis (Anura: Dendrobatidae) males VELEZ, A*; AMEZQUITA, A; University of Minnesota; Universidad de Los Andes velez011@umn.edu

Among anuran amphibians advertisement calls are used to attract females and repel other males. Territorial species most commonly defend their territories with advertisement calls and overt aggression. Different physical properties of the advertisement calls are used by different species during species recognition. Here I test if two temporal properties of the advertisement call – note duration and inter-note interval – are used by Allobates femoralis for species recognition. Males A. femoralis showed positive phonotactic response to synthetic 4 note-stimuli with supernormal note duration and supernormal inter-note interval. Furthermore, this species showed a high probability of responding to synthetic sounds presenting typical values of note duration and inter-call interval of a syntopic population of Ameerega trivittata, typically producing series of 1 note-calls. Thus, A. femoralis would be a species in which only one trait of the advertisement call might not be enough for species recognition.