Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Avenue, 43210-1293, Columbus, OH, USA.
Anim Cogn. 1998 Oct;1(2):83-7. doi: 10.1007/s100710050012. Epub 2014 Jan 5.
Social communication in anuran amphibians (frogs and toads) is mediated predominantly by acoustic signals. Unlike most anurans, the Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki, lacks a standard tympanic middle ear and appears to have augmented its communicatory repertoire to include rotational limb motions as visual signals, referred to here as semaphores. The communicatory nature of semaphoring was inferred from experimental manipulations using mirrored self-image presentations and nonresident introductions. Male frogs semaphored significantly more when presented with a mirrored self-image than with a nonreflective control. Novel encounters between resident males and nonresident frogs demonstrated that semaphores were used directionally and were displayed toward target individuals. Females semaphored frequently and this observation represents a rare case of signaling by females in a typically male-biased communicatory regime. Semaphore actions were clearly linked to a locomotory gait pattern and appear to have originated as an elaboration of a standard stepping motion.
无尾目两栖动物（青蛙和蟾蜍）的社会交流主要通过声学信号进行。与大多数无尾目动物不同，巴拿马金蛙（Atelopus zeteki）缺乏标准的鼓膜中耳，似乎增加了其通讯 repertoire，包括作为视觉信号的旋转肢体运动，这里称为信号。通过使用镜像自我呈现和非居民介绍的实验操作，推断出信号的交际性质。与非反射控制相比，雄性青蛙在呈现镜像自我图像时发出的信号明显更多。居住雄性与非居住青蛙之间的新相遇表明，信号是有方向性的，并针对目标个体显示。雌性也经常发出信号，这种观察代表了在通常以雄性为主的通讯机制中雌性发出信号的罕见情况。信号动作与一种运动步态模式明显相关，似乎起源于标准踏步动作的复杂化。
