lekking

[tonyc@foe.co.uk (Tony Canning)]

> 
> In response to Tony Canning's comments about lekking, there are also
> mammals that do this: hammer-headed bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus) in west
> Africa and kob and lechwe (antelopes of the genus Kobus) in east Africa. 
> Quite a few birds, including a number of grouse (Phasianidae), a few
> sandpipers (Scolopacidae), a few hummingbirds (Trochilidae), and many
> manakins (Pipridae) perform impressive lek displays. I am unaware of any
> reptiles that exhibit lek behavior. Very many frog species come together in
> 'choruses,' which conform to the definition of lekking in other
> vertebrates.

I didn't mean to imply that lekking behaviour applied to most frogs - I was
thinking of specific examples, such as Rana subaquavocalis, where only males
successful in holding territories call and attract mates - other satellite
males without territories do not call.  This is very similar to the bird
examples, ie it is convergent.  If you take lekking to mean display + 
sexual selection by females, almost all animals would qualify.

I don't think any modern reptiles lek, although in some species with highly
developed visual displays, eg Anolis lizards, it is known that the females
will not come into breeding condition without the stimulus of observing
males displaying to one another.

Tony Canning  tonyc@foe.co.uk