Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Intraspecific Chemical Recognition in the Lizard Liolaemus tenuis

  • Published:
Journal of Chemical Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Experimental tests were conducted to determine whether females and males of the tree-dwelling lizard Liolaemus tenuis (Tropiduridae) show intraspecific chemical recognition during breeding and postreproductive seasons. Animals were individually maintained in plastic enclosures for one week. Thereafter, the number of tongue-flicks that a lizard performed in the enclosure of a male, a female, its own home enclosure, and a control (unused) enclosure were recorded. In both seasons, males and females made fewer tongue-flicks in their home enclosures than in any other one, indicating a recognition of a familiar place, probably a chemical self-recognition. Conspecific chemical recognition was season dependent. During the post-reproductive season, lizards tongue-flicked at similar rates in conspecific and control enclosures, while during the breeding season enclosures of females elicited more tongue-flicks by both sexes, and the overall tongue-flick rates were higher than in the postreproductive season. Results are discussed within the context of the social system of the species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Alberts, A. C. 1989. Ultraviolet visual sensitivity in desert iguanas: Implications for pheromone detection. Anim. Behav. 38:129-137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alberts, A. C. 1992. Pheromonal self-recognition in desert iguanas. Copeia 1992:229-232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alberts, A. C. 1993. Chemical and behavioral studies of femoral glands secretions in iguanid lizards. Brain Behav. Ecol. 41:255-260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copper, W. E. 1994. Chemical discrimination by tongue-flicking in lizards: A review with hypothesis on its origin and its ecological and phylogenetic relationships. J. Chem. Ecol. 20:439-487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E. 1995. Foraging models, prey chemical discrimination, and phylogeny in lizards. Anim. Behav. 50:973-985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E. 1998. Evaluation of swab and related tests as a bioassay for assessing responses by Squamate reptiles to chemical stimuli. J. Chem. Ecol. 24:841-866.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E., and Burghardt, G. M. 1990a. A comparative analysis of scoring methods for chemical discrimination of prey by squamate reptiles. J. Chem. Ecol. 16:45-65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E., and Burghardt, G. M. 1990b. Vomerolfaction and vomodor. J. Chem. Ecol. 16:103-105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E., and Garstka, W. R. 1987. Lingual responses to chemical fractions of urodaeal glandular pheromones of the skink Eumeces laticipes. J. Exp. Zool. 242:249-253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E., and Trauth, S. E. 1992. Discrimination of conspecific male and female cloacal chemical stimuli by males and possession of a probable pheromone gland by females in a cordylid lizard, Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus. Herpetologica 48:229-236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E., Garstka, W. R., and Vitt, L. J. 1986. Female sex pheromones in the lizard Eumeces laticeps. Herpetologica 42:361-366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. E., LÓpez, P., and Salvador, A. 1994. Pheromone detection by an amphisbaenian. Anim. Behav. 47:1401-1411.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Fazio, A., Simon, C. A., Middendorf, G. A., and Romano, D. 1977. Iguanid substrate licking: A response to novel situations in Sceloporus jarrovi. Copeia 1977:706-709.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Perno, C. S., and Cooper, W. E. 1995. Prey chemical discrimination and strike-induced chemosensory searching in the lizard Liolaemus zapallarensis. Chemoecology 4:86-72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donoso-Barros, R. 1966. Reptiles de Chile. Universidad de Chile, Santiago, 458 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duvall, D., Graves, B. M., and Carpenter, G. C. 1987. Visual and chemical composite signalling effects of Sceloporus lizards fecal boli. Copeia 1987:1028-1031.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, A. L. 1968. Experimental Design in Psychological Research, 3rd ed. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etheridge, R. 1995. Redescription of Ctenoblepharys adspersa Tschudi, 1845, and the taxonomy of Liolaeminae (Reptilia: Squamata: Tropiduridae). Am. Mus. Novitates 3142:1-34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost, D. R., and Etheridge, R. 1989. A phylogenetic analysis and taxonomy of iguanian lizards (Reptilia: Squamata). Univ. Kans. Mus. Nat. Hist. Mis. Publ. 81.

  • GÓmez, A., Font, E., and Desfilis, E. 1993. Chemoreception in the Lacertidae: Exploration and conspecific discrimination in the Spanish wall lizard, Podarcis hispanica, pp. 213-230, in E. D. Valakos, W. Böhme, V. Pérez-Mellando, and P. Maragou (eds.). Region: A Biological Approach, Lacetids of the Mediterranean, Hellenic Zoological Society, Athens.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graves, B. M., and Halpern, M. 1991. Discrimination of self from conspecific chemical cues in Tiliqua scincinoides (Sauria: Scincidae). J. Herpetol. 25:125-126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, N. 1985. Exploratory behavior and stress in the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Z. Tierpsychol. 70:89-102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, M. 1992. Nasal chemical senses in reptiles: Structure and function, pp. 423-524, in C. Gans and D. Crews (eds.). Hormones, Brain and Behavior. Biology of Reptilia, Vol. 18.E. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Labra, A. 1998. Selected body temperatures of seven Liolaemus lizards. Rev. Chil. Hist. Nat. 71:349-358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maderson, P. F. A. 1972. The structure and evolution of holocrine epidermal glands in sphaerodactyline and eublepharine gekkonid lizards. Copeia 1972:559-571.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manzur, M. I., and Fuentes, E. R. 1979. Polygyny and agonistic behavior in the tree-dwelling lizard Liolaemus tenuis (Iguanidae). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 6:23-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, R. T. 1992. Reptilian pheromones, pp. 114-228, in C. Gans and D. Crews (eds.). Hormones, Brain and Behavior. Biology of Reptilia, Vol. 18E. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, R. T., and Gutzke, W. 1990. Sex recognition in the Leopard gecko, Eublepharis macularis (Sauria: Gekkonidae); Possible mediation by skin-derived semiochemicals. J. Chem. Ecol. 16:27-36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. C., and Lindzey, J. 1992. The physiological basis of sexual behavior in males reptiles, pp. 70-113, in C. Gans and D. Crews (eds.). Hormones, Brain and Behavior. Biology of Reptilia, Vol. 18E. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, L. J., and Cooper, W. E. 1997. Investigations of pheromonal discrimination between conspecific individuals by male and female Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularis). Herpetologica 53:475-484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner, D. I., Baker, E. M., GonzÁlez, E del C., and Sosa, I. R. 1987. Kinship recognition and grouping in hatchling green iguanas. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 21:83-89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittier, J. M., and Tokarz, R. R. 1992. Physiological regulation of sexual behavior in female reptiles, pp. 24-69, in C. Gans and D. Crews (eds.). Hormones, Brain and Behavior. Biology of Reptilia, Vol. 18E. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatical Analysis. Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 718 pp.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile

    Antonieta Labra & Hermann M. Niemeyer

Authors
  1. Antonieta Labra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hermann M. Niemeyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Labra, A., Niemeyer, H.M. Intraspecific Chemical Recognition in the Lizard Liolaemus tenuis . J Chem Ecol 25, 1799–1811 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020925631314

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020925631314

Search

Navigation