Literaturdatenbank
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Murphy, J. B., & Lamoreaux, W. E. (1978). Mating behavior in three australian chelid turtles (testudines: pleurodira: chelidae). Herpetologica, 34(4), 398–405.
Added by: Admin (25 Aug 2008 21:58:26 UTC) Last edited by: Beate Pfau (20 Sep 2009 16:22:25 UTC) |
| Resource type: Journal Article BibTeX citation key: Murphy1978a View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Chelidae, Chelodina, Elseya, Emydura, Emydura subglobosa, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Verhalten = ethology Creators: Lamoreaux, Murphy Collection: Herpetologica |
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| Abstract |
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Emydura albertisii subglobosa Chelodina Elseya The courtship and copulatory behavior of the aquatic chelid turtles Emydura macquarii, Elseya latisternum, and Chelodina longicollis was studied in captivity. Precoital and coital behavior in Em. macquarii and El. latisternum included the following elements: approach, signaling, frontal contact for alignment of gular barbels, stroking bout, and mounting. In Em. macquarii and El. latisternum, males approached females with a series of dorsoventral head-bobs, engaged in cloacal touching, attempted to align their barbels with those of the females, and began extended stroking of the barbels and snout with the forefeet and claws. Mounting and attempted intromission were observed in Em. macquarii, but were not observed in El. latisternum. The functional usage of the barbels, which was thought to be sensory primarily for prey location, also constituted a portion of the courtship of Em. macquarii and El. latisternum and may suggest a sexual purpose. The mating behavior in C. longicollis differed markedly from the other species insofar as head-bobs, frontal alignment, and stroking by the male were not observed. After a varying period of cloacal touching, the male attained the mounting position by placing his lower jaw upon the postvertebral marginal scutes of the female, then commenced rapid swimming to follow the vertebral groove of her shell anteriorly. The male arched his neck, aligned his plastron over the carapace of the female, juxtaposed the vents and extruded his penis vigorously. The interval between alignment of the vents to full extrusion of the penis was remarkably short, lasting about 1 s. Detumescence and retraction of the penis required 3-5 s. During intromission, the male rested upside down with his carapace on the substratum, thus creating an angle of approximately 150° between the long axes of the pair. Copulation lasted 3 min. Added by: Admin Last edited by: Beate Pfau |