Abstract
A total of 168 courtship sequences from 12 male and 18 female adult captive Sacalia quadriocellata were recorded on video. Thirty male and four female discrete motor patterns were defined and described. The behavioural sequences were summarized in an intra-individual dyadic transition matrix and analyzed using chi-square and kappa analyses. Courtship behaviour models and a flow diagram were constructed for this species. The male display patterns involved tactical and visual signals to induce female receptivity to mating. In response, females may emit olfactory signals for gender recognition. Female rejection of male suitors resulted in a male success rate of 4.17%. Only seven copulations were observed. Copulation only occurred when a female became quiescent and relaxed her tail for coition.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 185-195 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Amphibia-Reptilia |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Injection protocols were developed in consultation with, and oversight of, Prof. Hua-cun Mi, Hainan Livestock Modification Centre, Haikou. Ross Mac-Culloch provided valuable comments on the manuscript. Mei-ling Hong and Li-jun Wang provided suggestions from the beginning of this study. Jie Wang helped to collect literatures for this study. Bing-long Fu and Bing-xiang Fu collected the live specimens in the field, and Mao-gui Hu, Lu-yan He, Jian-liang Hao, Yuan-yuan Xin, Qi Chen provided valuable assistance.Funding
This research is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (30260019 and 30660026), Hainan key project of science and technology. International collaboration was supported by Cleveland Zoo. Grants to RWM were received from the Board of Governors, Royal Ontario Museum, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant A3148).