INVESTIGADORES
SAL MOYANO Maria Paz
artículos
Título:
Comparison of mating behavior and copulation in male morphotypes of the spider crab Libinia spinosa (Brachyura: Majoidea: Epialtidae)
Autor/es:
SAL MOYANO M. P.; GAVIO M. A.
Revista:
JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY
Editorial:
CRUSTACEAN SOC
Referencias:
Año: 2012 vol. 32 p. 31 - 38
ISSN:
0278-0372
Resumen:
The mating behavior of the spider crab Libinia spinosa Milne Edwards 1834 was studied in the laboratory. Two male morphotypes as
morphometrically immature (MI) with small chelae and morphometrically mature (MM) with large chelae were used in non competitive
and competitive mating trials. The liberation of putative hormones by receptive females to attract males was studied.We examined whether
male body or cheliped size influence mate acquisition and copulation. The liberation of putative hormones by receptive females could
not be demonstrated because males did not behave differently among four treatments exposed to water from 1) ovigerous females, 2) non
ovigerous females, 3) males, and 4) a control of water unexposed to crabs. Under non competitive and competitive scenarios, copulation
occurred immediately after physical contact between partners, thus a contact pheromone could be involved. The copulatory behavior and
the time of copulation were similar between both male morphotypes. In non-competitive mating trials, MI males copulated successfully
with females, and immediately after the mating pairs decoupled. By contrast, MM males displayed a post-copulatory guarding behavior
that consisted of holding the female with the major cheliped and carrying her around the aquarium. In a competitive scenario, MM males
guarded females for several hours by either caging them within the legs, or holding them out of the water when MI males approached. MI
males of larger sizes than MM males did not gain mates and avoided agonistic interactions with MM males; thus, large chelae size is a
more decisive trait than large body size for mate acquisition.