Futurity.org » mating

Older flies with sexy smell turn on males

Mary Masson-Michigan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:01:47 +0000

U. MICHIGAN (US) — Changes in pheromone production that occur with age can reduce sexual attractiveness, according to a recent study with fruit flies.

Pheromones are chemicals produced by an organism to communicate or attract another. The new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, examined how pheromones play a role in the sexual attractiveness and aging process of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, says Scott D. Pletcher, senior author of the study, associate professor in the department of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan.

Tempo matters for female frogs

Steven Adams-Missouri — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:56:19 +0000

U. MISSOURI (US) — Certain female tree frogs may be remarkably attuned to the songs of mates who share the same number of chromosomes as they do, a new study shows.

Carl Gerhardt, biological sciences professor at the University of Missouri, and doctoral student Mitch Tucker studied two closely related species of grey tree frogs that live in Missouri, the eastern grey tree frog (Hyla versicolor) and the Cope’s grey tree frog (H. chrysoscelis).

Scarier weapons get the (spider) girl

Karl Bates-Duke — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:43:14 +0000

DUKE (US) — The bigger a male jumping spider’s weapons appear to be, the more likely his rival will slink away without a fight, leaving the bigger guy a clear path to the waiting female.

Duke University graduate student Cynthia Tedore, working with her dissertation advisor, visual ecologist Sönke Johnsen, wanted to know what visual signals matter most to magnolia green jumping spiders, which have an impressive array of eyes, including two giant green ones that face forward.

Vision is clearly important to these quarter-inch animals, which Tedore says can be “very predaceous and aggressive,” when love is in the air.

In tough times, nasty fungus turns to sex

David Orenstein-Brown — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:42:52 +0000

BROWN (US) — Under hostile conditions, an infectious fungus—once thought to be asexual—is able to mate sexually, improving its chances of survival.

The fungi of the Candida genus are known worldwide for their ability to cause serious infections, but were once thought to be asexual. Even after scientists discovered that the mating habits of Candida albicans were many and varied, they remained convinced that many of the more infectious ones did not mate.

Like humans, chimps share to be social

Mike Ferlazzo-Iowa State — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:39:35 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — Humans aren’t the only ones who recognize the benefits of sharing. New research finds male chimps share plants and hunting tools with females, perhaps as a strategy for future mating.

A new study of chimps at the Fongoli research site in Senegal, has documented a frequency of sharing previously unreported for chimpanzees—not only do they transfer meat and wild plant foods, they also share tools, honey, and soil.

Birds may identify their kin by smell

William Harms-Chicago — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:15:07 +0000

U. CHICAGO (US) — Penguins appear to use smell to determine if they are related to a potential mate, which suggests birds may have a more highly developed sense of smell than researchers previously thought.

The research by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo, shows how related birds are able to recognize each other. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, could help conservationists design programs to help preserve endangered species.

Rare mix-up results in ‘hybrid’ butterfly

Tim Green-U. Texas — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:00:35 +0000

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — A tiger swallowtail butterfly evolved when two other species hybridized—a common occurrence with plants, but a rarity in the animal world.

Researchers say the Appalachian tiger swallowtail, Papilio appalachiensis—that evolved from mixing between the Eastern tiger swallowtail, P. glaucus, and the Canadian tiger swallowtail, P. Canadensis—rarely reproduces with its parental species and is a unique mixture of the two in both its outward traits and inward genetic makeup.

“How new species form is one of the central questions in evolutionary biology,” says Krushnamegh Kunte, a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard University who began his research as a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.

More grandkids if mama bird plays the field

Steve Chaplin-Indiana — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:48:50 +0000

INDIANA U. (US) — It’s all about the kids and the grandkids. That’s what biologist have learned about promiscuous female birds and why they mate outside their social pair.

Many humans find mating for life a romantic ideal, but in the natural world, non-monogamous relationships may have their benefits. According to new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers at Indiana University have uncovered one of the benefits of this promiscuity: more grandkids.

In dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), individuals that were sired by a male other than their mother’s pair-bonded partner grew up to have higher reproductive success than did individuals whose mother stayed faithful to her partner. This study on a population of wild songbirds represents the first time that an individual’s paternity has been shown to affect its reproductive success as an adult.

Too sexy? Females limit showy males

Lee Clippard-Texas — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:59:20 +0000

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Female cognitive ability can limit how melodious or handsome males become over evolutionary time, new research shows.

Males across the animal world have evolved elaborate traits to attract females—from huge peacock tails to complex bird songs and frog calls. But what keeps them from getting more colorful feathers, longer tails, or more melodious songs?

Songbird ‘cologne’ drives females wild

Layne Cameron-Michigan State — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:40:44 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Like teenage boys dousing themselves with body spray to woo girls, male songbirds deploy a similar tactic when they release preen oil from a gland at the base of their tail.

Scents are used in all organisms for a variety of purposes, including finding, attracting, and evaluating mates. Smaller male songbirds will even release more scent to compensate for their small stature.