Decoupled Evolution between Senders and Receivers in the Neotropical Allobates femoralis Frog Complex.

ABSTRACT: During acoustic communication, an audible message is transmitted from a sender to a receiver, often producing changes in behavior. In a system where evolutionary changes of the sender do not result in a concomitant adjustment in the receiver, communication and species recognition could fail. However, the possibility of an evolutionary decoupling between sender and receiver has rarely been studied. Frog populations in the Allobates femoralis cryptic species complex are known for their extensive morphological, genetic and acoustic variation. We hypothesized that geographic variation in acoustic signals of A. femoralis was correlated with geographic changes in communication through changes in male-male recognition. To test this hypothesis, we quantified male call recognition using phonotactic

SUBMITTER: Betancourth-Cundar M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4898772 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature