caa a22 4500 60546247X CHVBK 20210128100248.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20151001xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10211-015-0213-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10211-015-0213-0 Chemoreception and mating behaviour of a tropical Australian skink [Elektronische Daten] [Mitchell Scott, John Llewelyn, Megan Higgie, Conrad Hoskin, Kyana Pike, Ben Phillips] In many reptile groups, molecular systematics is currently revealing high levels of cryptic diversity (i.e. genetically distinct lineages that are difficult to distinguish morphologically). One obvious mode for mate discrimination in these cryptic species is chemoreception. We hypothesise that diversity in these groups is not cryptic for pheromones, and mate recognition via chemoreception may be the primary reproductive isolating mechanism. Here, we present a preliminary study of chemoreception in Lampropholis coggeri, a rainforest skink of north-eastern Australia. We first describe the mating behaviour of captive pairs, showing that tongue-flicking is an important component for both males and females, and find that L. coggeri mate more readily when paired with a conspecific from their own population vs. from a nearby population. Based on the assumption that tongue-flicking represents the lizard's interest, we then experimentally tested scent discrimination using lizard-swabbed cotton buds presented to captive individuals. We found both sexes tongue-flicked more to conspecific scent than to unscented controls. Males tongue-flicked more to female scent than to male scent but did not discriminate between mated and unmated females. While females showed greater interest in conspecific scent, they showed no greater interest in scent from males than females. This lack of discrimination was true for both mated and unmated females. Unexpectedly, however, mated females tongue-flicked substantially more than unmated females. Finally, males tended to tongue flick more often to female scents from their own population than to a nearby population that is moderately genetically divergent. Our results suggest that chemoreception plays a role in mate recognition in this species. Further work should extend to establishing mate recognition between the highly divergent cryptic lineages within this species and the pheromones underlying mate recognition. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and ISPA, 2015 Chemoreception nationallicence Mate recognition nationallicence Cryptic species nationallicence Mate choice nationallicence Conspecific nationallicence Tongue flick nationallicence Scent nationallicence Pheromones nationallicence Mating behaviour nationallicence Scott Mitchell Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 0200, Acton, ACT, Australia aut Llewelyn John Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Higgie Megan Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Hoskin Conrad Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Pike Kyana Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Phillips Ben School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia aut acta ethologica Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/3(2015-10-01), 283-293 0873-9749 18:3<283 2015 18 10211 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-015-0213-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-015-0213-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Scott Mitchell Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 0200, Acton, ACT, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Llewelyn John Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Higgie Megan Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hoskin Conrad Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pike Kyana Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Phillips Ben School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- acta ethologica Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/3(2015-10-01), 283-293 0873-9749 18:3<283 2015 18 10211