Mating call as a spatial signal and its brain representation in the terrestrial toad Rhinella arenarum

SOTELO, M. I., BINGMAN, V. P. & MUZIO, R. N.

BRAIN BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION

KARGER

Lugar: Basel; Año: 2019

0006-8977

Acoustic communication is essentialfor reproduction, social interaction and predatory avoidance in many anuranspecies. Mating calls generally produced by males are a strong signal of communicationemployed during breeding season and it is of particular importance in our studyspecies, Rhinella arenarum, as males producehigh intensity calls in large breeding aggregates. Although mating calls havebeen largely studied to analyze content, as well as to determine the physicalstructure of the signals emitted and received by conspecifics, they are rarelydiscussed as a possible source of spatial information in the environment. Thisis striking if we consider that anurans have to move to acoustically signaled waterponds for reproduction and previous studies in other contexts have shown thatthey are impressive navigators. In this study we analyzed the use of a matingcall as a spatial cue to localize a water reward in a maze under controlledlaboratory conditions. Indeed, male toads could learn the location of a rewardusing mating call as a spatial signal, and that navigational ability wasaccompanied by a c-Fos analysis of the telencephalon showing a higheractivation of the Hippocampal Formation (HF, also known in amphibians as MedialPallium, MP), the Medial Septum (MS) and the Central Amygdala (CeA). HF and MSare telencephalic structures associated with spatial navigation in mammals andother vertebrates. The CeA, on the other hand, has been studied in the contextof acoustic processing and communication in other amphibian species. Theresults are discussed in the context of an evolutionary conserved HF-septal spatialnetwork shared by amphibians and mammals.