Many animals that use acoustic communication synchronize their mate attract!on signals: individuals precisely time their calls to overlap those of their neighbors. In contrast, synchrony in the mate attraction display...Many animals that use acoustic communication synchronize their mate attract!on signals: individuals precisely time their calls to overlap those of their neighbors. In contrast, synchrony in the mate attraction displays of species with visual/motion-based signals is rare. It has only been documented in five species of fiddler crabs. In all of them, small groups of males wave their single large claw in close synchrony. Here, I review what we know about synchrony in fiddler crabs, comparing the five species with each other to determine whether similar mechanisms and functions are comm on to all. I also propose future research questions that, if answered, would shed light on synchronous behavior in both visual and acoustic signallers.展开更多
文摘Many animals that use acoustic communication synchronize their mate attract!on signals: individuals precisely time their calls to overlap those of their neighbors. In contrast, synchrony in the mate attraction displays of species with visual/motion-based signals is rare. It has only been documented in five species of fiddler crabs. In all of them, small groups of males wave their single large claw in close synchrony. Here, I review what we know about synchrony in fiddler crabs, comparing the five species with each other to determine whether similar mechanisms and functions are comm on to all. I also propose future research questions that, if answered, would shed light on synchronous behavior in both visual and acoustic signallers.
