In Acanthagrion lancea damselflies, both sexes display blue ornamentation, but do they choose mates based on it? We tested whether mutual mate choice and time constraints influence ornament evolution...

Ecological Entomology, EarlyView.

We conducted playback experiments to male cicadas using sounds of calling song with normal order, reversed order, and elongated latter part variants. Male responses significantly reduced to reversed ...

Front Cover A male northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans) calling in a pond in Virginia, USA. Males respond aggressively to a range of cricket frog calls, including those of the closely related sou...

Post provided by Michael Chimento. When studying animal culture, it’s important to establish whether novel behaviours or information have spread through social contact, or are rather innovated or p…

Understanding how animal behavior evolves remains a major challenge, with few studies linking genetic changes to differences in neural function and...

Publication date: Available online 29 January 2026 Source: Applied Animal Behaviour Science Author(s): Nicole Maffezzini, Simon Turner, Rainer Roehe, Rick D’Eath

We studied spatial and behavioural interactions between young calves (< 6 months old) and conspecific females to understand social ontogeny in a wild Asian elephant population. We found differentiate...

Maternal effects —non-genetic influences of the mother on her offspring phenotype— play a crucial role in shaping early development and fitness

This study examined how background colour influences behaviour and development in golden mantella (Mantella aurantiaca) tadpoles across ontogeny. Tadpoles preferred darker backgrounds, and this prefe...

The relationship between morphology and ecology is mediated by behavior. We explore this relationship by assessing the link between trophic ecology and the use of prey-specific feeding behaviors in a cichlid fish system. Cichlid diversification features repeated transitions between free-moving prey and attached benthic prey, requiring predators to evolve prey-specific approaches to feeding. Using 2000 Hz video, we characterized feeding behavior on an experimental attached benthic prey in seven species of Mesoamerican heroine cichlid spanning three independent transitions to specialized piscivory and two to specialized benthic-feeding ecology. We investigated the effect of feeding ecology on the behavior and kinematics of benthic grazing, a derived, specialized mode of cichlid feeding. Surprisingly, all species readily fed on benthic prey, regardless of their feeding ecology. Nearly all non-benthic species used the same benthic-feeding behaviors as ecological benthic-feeders. Our findings demonstrate an unexpected level of behavioral versatility among cichlid species in exploiting functionally demanding prey outside their typical diets. We propose that this repertoire of latent feeding behaviors supports trophic versatility and facilitates niche diversification. We also show that two benthic-feeding lineages of Neotropical cichlids evolved distinct approaches to benthic feeding, exhibiting the highest and lowest total feeding-strike kinesis, respectively. Together, our findings highlight the importance of behavior in linking morphology and ecology and motivate further study into the diversity and evolutionary context of benthic feeding across the Cichlidae.

Ghost crabs (Ocypode quadrata) were assessed for sociability and conspecific recognition in a 3-chambered apparatus. In the former, a single unfamiliar conspecific was placed in one radial chamber. C...