Influência do branqueamento das fêmeas no comportamento de corte dos machos do caranguejo chama-maré Leptuca leptodactyla (Brachyura: Ocypodidae)

Abstract

The body color of fiddler crabs is related to their survival and sociosexual communication. Males and females of Leptuca leptodactyla change the color of their carapace to white during reproductive periods, a process known as bleaching. This correlation of bleaching with the reproductive period indicates that this coloration could exert a sexual signaling hole in these animals, although this has never been tested experimentally. The purpose of the current work was to verify whether the bleaching of females affects the courtship behavior of males. This study was carried out in Barra do Rio, Extremoz-RN, where males performing a waving display had their burrows surrounded by laminate wood arenas (70x70cm), in which two live females were positioned, one with its natural carapace color (i.e., dark gray) and the other with a white painted carapace. The males' behaviors were filmed for five minutes, starting with their first wavings. Our results demonstrated that the treatment of the white female had a positive effect on the males' nodding rate, insistence and forced copulation. To our knowledge, this is the first behavioral evidence that carapace bleaching in L. leptodactyla females can influence male courtship behavior, potentially signaling the reproductive quality of these animals.