Amaya Juan Pablo, Areta Juan I, Valentinuzzi Veronica S, Zufiaurre Emmanuel
Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja (CRILAR-CONICET) , Anillaco, La Rioja , Argentina.
Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del Noroeste Argentino (IBIGEO-CONICET) , Rosario de Lerma, Salta , Argentina.
PeerJ. 2016 Oct 11;4:e2559. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2559. eCollection 2016.
The underground environment poses particular communication challenges for subterranean rodents. Some loud and low-pitched acoustic signals that can travel long distances are appropriate for long-range underground communication and have been suggested to be territorial signals. Long-range vocalizations (LRVs) are important in long-distance communication in tuco-tucos. We characterized the LRV of the Anillaco Tuco-Tuco ( sp.) using recordings from free-living individuals and described the behavioral context in which this vocalization was produced during laboratory staged encounters between individuals of both sexes. Long-range calls of Anillaco tuco-tucos are low-frequency, broad-band, loud, and long sounds composed by the repetition of two syllable types: series (formed by notes and soft-notes) and individual notes. All vocalizations were initiated with series, but not all had individual notes. Males were heavier than females and gave significantly lower-pitched vocalizations, but acoustic features were independent of body mass in males. The pronounced variation among individuals in the arrangement and number of syllables and the existence of three types of series (dyads, triads, and tetrads), created a diverse collection of syntactic patterns in vocalizations that would provide the opportunity to encode multiple types of information. The existence of complex syntactic patterns and the description of soft-notes represent new aspects of the vocal communication of . Long-distance vocalizations by Anillaco Tuco-Tucos appear to be territorial signals used mostly in male-male interactions. First, emission of LRVs resulted in de-escalation or space-keeping in male-male and male-female encounters in laboratory experiments. Second, these vocalizations were produced most frequently (in the field and in the lab) by males in our study population. Third, males produced LRVs with greater frequency during male-male encounters compared to male-female encounters. Finally, males appear to have larger home ranges that were more spatially segregated than those of females, suggesting that males may have greater need for long-distance signals that advertise their presence. Due to their apparent rarity, the function and acoustic features of LRV in female tuco-tucos remain inadequately known.
地下环境给地下啮齿动物带来了特殊的交流挑战。一些能够远距离传播的响亮且低音调的声学信号适用于长距离的地下交流，并且被认为是领地信号。远距离发声（LRV）在土库土鼠的长距离交流中很重要。我们利用自由生活个体的录音对阿尼拉科土库土鼠（种名）的LRV进行了特征描述，并描述了在实验室中两性个体 staged 相遇期间发出这种叫声的行为背景。阿尼拉科土库土鼠的远距离叫声是低频、宽带、响亮且持续时间长的声音，由两种音节类型的重复组成：系列音（由音符和弱音符组成）和单个音符。所有发声都以系列音开始，但并非所有发声都有单个音符。雄性比雌性更重，发出的叫声音调明显更低，但声学特征在雄性中与体重无关。个体之间在音节排列和数量上的显著差异以及三种系列音（二元组、三元组和四元组）的存在，在发声中创造了各种各样的句法模式，这将为编码多种类型的信息提供机会。复杂句法模式的存在以及弱音符的描述代表了土库土鼠发声交流的新方面。阿尼拉科土库土鼠的远距离发声似乎是主要用于雄性之间互动的领地信号。首先，在实验室实验中，LRV的发出导致雄性之间和雄性与雌性相遇时冲突降级或保持距离。其次，在我们的研究群体中，这些叫声在野外和实验室中最常由雄性发出。第三，与雄性和雌性相遇相比，雄性在雄性之间相遇时发出LRV的频率更高。最后，雄性似乎有更大的家域，且比雌性的家域在空间上分隔得更开，这表明雄性可能更需要用于宣告其存在的远距离信号。由于LRV在雌性土库土鼠中明显罕见，其功能和声学特征仍知之甚少。
