The Effects of Isolation, the Duration of Brooding, and Non-Egg Olfactory Cues on Clutch Recognition by the Salamander, Desmognathus ochrophaeus

Abstract

The ability of female mountain dusky salamanders to recognize their own egg mass following experimental isolation ranging from 0 to 96 h was tested in the laboratory. Egg recog- nition and clutch fidelity did not differ between isolation groups, nor was it affected by the number of days that a female had been attending her eggs. Females with developmentally advanced clutches spent significantly less time in the presence of eggs than did those with less developed clutches, but this is considered to be an artifact of prolonged confinement and frequent handling in the laboratory. Females were not inclined to approach their own eggs first during two choice trials. Nevertheless, as a group, females spent a significant percentage of the test period with their own eggs, and most were in the presence of their own clutch within 24 h. An olfactory hypothesis for clutch recognition is presented and a set of experiments is described which tests the importance of non-clutch odors during the nest selection process.