Does the Pyrenean salamander Euproctus asper use chemical cues for sex identification and mating behaviour?

Guillaume, O.

This paper examined the potentiality of chemical cues for sex identification and mating activity in Euproctus asper. The study tested the ability of males and females to distinguish between the odour of animals of their own sex and that of animals of the opposite sex, as it was carried to them by water flowing over another animal. Their ability to distinguish between water flowing over another E. asper and water flowing over a control, where no other animal was present, was also tested. Then, the study tested their ability to distinguish between the diffusing odour of animals of their own sex, that of animals of the opposite sex, and that of a control, where no other animal was present. There was no evidence that males and females identify their mates using chemical cues. Observations of the courtship behaviour were also carried out. Mating seems to be induced by the male's display of his tail when he captures the female as she passes near him, to form an amplexus, without any obvious preliminary. On the basis of these data, the question whether the mate identification occurs during the amplexus in this species was raised.