Context-Dependent Social Behavior In Gold Dust Day Geckos (Phelsuma Laticauda)
Date
2023
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Abstract
Non-avian reptiles can exhibit complex social behaviors, but they are vastly
understudied relative to birds and mammals. Social behaviors relay information between
individuals about each other and are important for mating, territory, predator altering, and
the individual’s overall fitness. The gold dust day gecko was introduced to the Hawaiian
Islands in the 1970’s. Little is known about their reproductive/social behavior, in their
native or introduced range, and how this may affect their ability to thrive as an invasive
species. Their introduction provides an opportunity to study their social behaviors. I used
focal observations of lizards in experimental enclosures to develop an ethogram and
determine whether the types and frequencies of behaviors varies during intraspecific
pairwise interactions depending on the sexes of the interactors. Out of an initial set of
141 videos focused on a single lizard, the most common interaction observed was
between females and males (n = 24 of videos), while only 4 included male-male
interactions (M-M) and only 1 was of a female-female interaction. Despite having few
observations, I consistently observed that in M-M interactions one individual was the
aggressor, and this did not depend on the size of the individuals interacting. Most F-M
and all M-M interactions occurred during the summer. In F-M interactions I identified
behaviors that were exhibited more by one sex. Males performed bodyglide, parallel
stance, head bob, and stalked more while females did tailwag and moved more. The fact
that behavioral frequencies differ among the sexes when interacting suggests that these
behaviors may play an important role in courtship. Future studies that address the
potential role for these behaviors in individual identification or assessment of individual
quality are warranted, and additional effort is needed to observe M-M and F-F
interactions.
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BORIS, day gecko, ethogram, interactions, Phelsuma Laticauda, social behavior, t-test
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31
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Harding, Madelyne
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