Abstract

The effect of androgenic gland (AG) implantation on female agonistic behaviour was tested by comparing the interactions between pond-raised males with 10% smaller laboratory-raised individuals of three types: females implanted with an AG, sham operated females and intact males. Juvenile females were implanted with hypertrophied AG removed from bilaterally destalked large males. Implantation of the AG caused development of a red-patch on the propodus and additional secondary male-like characters such as the shape of the propodus, pleopods and brood chamber. These morphological changes were accompanied by changes in aggressive behaviour of implanted females. Contests between crayfish were video recorded and the frequency and duration of agonistic acts were contrasted in the three different types of encounters. The size asymmetry between the adversaries in this study ensured the winning of all contests by the larger pond raised males. Contests that involved only males were much more intense than those of a male with a sham operated female. Contests between a male and an AG implanted female were intermediate with regard to several parameters of the contest (e.g., duration of escalated fight, duration of grasp). The androgenic gland thus seems to influence not only morphological and physiological male features but aggressive behaviour as well.

Supplemental Documents

• There are no supplementary documents for this article

Cited By

Citations: