Calling behavior of males and females of a Bornean frog with male parental care and possible sex-role reversal

In many species that use acoustic signals for mate attraction, males are usually the most vocal sex. In frogs, females typically remain silent, while males produce advertisement calls to attract mates. In some species, females vocalize, but usually as a response to an initial male advertisement call...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral ecology and sociobiology 2017-06, Vol.71 (6), p.1-12, Article 95
Main Authors: Vallejos, Johana Goyes, Grafe, T. Ulmar, Sah, Hanyrol H. Ahmad, Wells, Kentwood D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
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Animal communication
Animal Ecology
Animal reproduction
Attraction
Behavioral Sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Birds
Calling behavior
Courtship
Eggs
FEATURED STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER
Females
Frogs
Hatching
Lek
Life Sciences
Males
Mating
Night
Sex
Sex ratio
Sexual behavior
Species
Vocalization behavior
Zoology
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Summary:In many species that use acoustic signals for mate attraction, males are usually the most vocal sex. In frogs, females typically remain silent, while males produce advertisement calls to attract mates. In some species, females vocalize, but usually as a response to an initial male advertisement call. The smooth guardian frog (Limnonectes palavanensis), found on Borneo, has exclusive paternal care while the females mate and desert after laying the clutch. Males provide care to the eggs until hatching and then they transport the tadpoles to small bodies of water. The vocal repertoire of this species has never been described. Males have a distinctive advertisement call to at tract females, but produce the call very infrequently. We found that females of L. palavanensis not only respond to male advertisement calls but also vocalize spontaneously, forming lek-like aggregations around a single male. Males may or may not respond to a particular female with a short courtship call, which is elicited only by the female call and not the male advertisement call. The calling rate of females is consistently higher throughout the night compared with the calling rate of males. These observations suggest that this species exhibits a reversal in calling behavior and possibly a sex-role-reversed mating system.
ISSN:0340-5443
1432-0762
DOI:10.1007/s00265-017-2323-3