[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10164-017-0506-z.].

Cephalopods are able to control their arms sophisticatedly and use them for various behaviors, such as camouflage, startling predators and hunting prey. Here, we report a previously undescribed arm-flapping behavior of the pharaoh cuttlefish, , observed in captivity. raised the first pair of arms and wrinkled the parts near the distal end, where the skin color was darkened. Additionally, spread the second and third pairs of arms and bent them as if they were jointed, and flapped the distal ends. showed this behavior in two different situations: after being introduced into a large space, and during hunting. We discuss the putative functions of this behavior, including possible mimicry of a hermit crab, considering the situations in which the behavior was observed.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10164-017-0514-z.].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10164-017-0507-y.].

Olfactory signals constitute an important mechanism in interspecific interactions, but little is known regarding their role in communication between predator species. We analyzed the behavioral responses of a mesopredator, the red fox (), to an olfactory cue (scat) of an apex predator, the lynx () in Białowieża Primeval Forest, Poland, using video camera traps. Red fox visited sites with scats more often than expected and the duration of their visits was longer at scat sites than at control sites (no scat added). Vigilant behavior, sniffing and scent marking (including over-marking) occurred more often at scat sites compared to control sites, where foxes mainly passed by. Vigilance was most pronounced during the first days of the recordings. Red fox behavior was also influenced by foxes previously visiting scat sites. They sniffed and scent marked (multiple over-marking) more frequently when the lynx scat had been over-marked previously by red fox. Fox visits to lynx scats may be seen as a trade-off between obtaining information on a potential food source (prey killed by lynx) and the potential risk of predation by an apex predator.

By gathering data on people during their ordinary daily activities, we tested if looking at, but not manipulating, smartphones led to a mimicry response in the observer. Manipulating and looking at the device (experimental condition), more than its mere manipulation (control condition), was critical to elicit a mimicry response in the observer. Sex, age and relationship quality between the experimenter and the observer had no effect on the smartphone mimicry response that tended to decrease during social meals. Due to the role of food as a tool in increasing social affiliation, it is possible that during communal eating, people engage in other forms of mimicry involving facial expressions and postures rather than the use of objects. Understanding the ethological mechanisms of the use of smartphones at everyday-social scale could unveil the processes at the basis of the widespread/increasing use of these devices at a large scale.

Individuals that arrive earlier on the breeding grounds may obtain many advantages but they also have to spend time waiting for a mate. I studied the waiting times of male red-breasted flycatchers , a small, migratory, sexually dichromatic passerine bird species under natural conditions (Białowieża National Park, Poland) in relation to year, arrival time, age of male and morphological parameters. The length of waiting time was dependent on males' arrival time. The males which arrived later waited a shorter time for females than earlier arrivals. In some years older males spent more time waiting for mates than younger males, but in other years they waited for shorter times. A significant interaction between age of male and year was also observed. Despite the significantly earlier arrival of older males, the waiting time was not related to male age. The waiting time was also not related to body biometric parameters of the male. Despite waiting longer, early male red-breasted flycatchers have an advantage over later arrivals given this greater chance of mating.

While competing males and choosy females may be common in animal mating systems, male choice can evolve under certain conditions. Sexual cannibalism is such a condition because of the high mortality risk for males. In mantids, female body condition is associated with male mate preference, with fat females preferred, due to at least two reasons: females in poor nutritional condition are likely to attack and predate males, and fat females can potentially increase the number of offspring. Thus, the risk of cannibalism and female fecundity can influence male mating behavior. In this study, we attempted to separate these factors by using the praying mantid to examine whether male preference for fat female mantids was based on avoiding sexual cannibalism (cannibalism avoidance hypothesis) or preference for female fecundity (fecundity preference hypothesis). The feeding regimes were experimentally manipulated to discriminate between the effects of female fecundity and female hunger status on male and female mating behaviors. We found that recently starved females more frequently locomoted toward the male, and that male abdominal bending was less intensive and escape was sooner from recently starved females. These female and male behavioral responses to female hunger condition may reveal male avoidance of dangerous females in this mantid.

Despite the increasing interest in the use of intromittent male genitalia and coercive mating behaviour in poeciliids, detailed studies of the mating behaviour of most species in this family are lacking. We describe here the mating and aggressive behaviours of , and correlate them with the condition of the female's ovum and embryos (immature, mature and pregnant). performed a wide range of aggressive (sidle spread, tail beating, coordinate) and mating behaviours (approximation, touch, lateral display, touch-lateral display). Some behaviours (e.g. tail beating) are shared with other poeciliids, but two sexual behaviours (touch and lateral display) and one aggressive (coordinate) behaviour may be unique to and were not reported in a previous study. Differences in male behaviour when paired with a female with mature ovum (more mating displays, no agonistic movements) suggest that males detect the female's reproductive condition from some distance. The distinctive nature of mating behaviour in highlights the importance of studying different species to have a better understanding of the evolution of mating and aggressive behaviours in poeciliids. Digital video images related to the article are available at http://www.momo-p.com/showdetail-e.php?movieid=momo170720bo01a, http://www.momo-p.com/showdetail-e.php?movieid=momo170720bo02a and http://www.momo-p.com/showdetail-e.php?movieid=momo170720bo03a.

Trap-building predators remain under strong selection from thermal microenvironments. To address how soil temperature and body size affect trap building, we conducted a laboratory experiment using larvae of the antlion at six ecologically relevant temperatures. Larger larvae built larger traps, and warmer soil led to more and larger traps. Body mass did not alter the dependence of trap building on temperature. Our results suggest that the physiological capacity of antlion larvae, which is affected by larval size and body temperature, is the major determinant of trap building. This effect should be considered when assessing interactions between antlions and prey.

Scent emitted from anal sac secretions provides important signals for most Carnivora. Their secretions emit a variety of volatile compounds, some of which function as chemical signals with information about the scent owners. The domestic cat has a pair of anal sac glands to secrete a pungent liquid. Their anal sac secretions may give information about sex, reproductive state, and recognition of individuals. However, little is known about the volatile compounds emitted from anal sac secretions and their biological functions in cats. In this study, we examined the volatile chemical profiles of anal sac secretions in cats and their olfactory ability to discriminate intraspecific anal sac secretions. Analysis with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that the major volatile compounds were short-chain free fatty acids, whose contents varied among individuals, as well as other carnivores. There was no sex difference in the volatile profiles. In temporal analyses of individual anal sac secretions performed 2 months apart, the profiles were highly conserved within individuals. Habituation-dishabituation tests showed that cats can distinguish individual differences in the odor of anal sac secretions. These results suggest that cats utilize short-chain free fatty acids emitted from anal sac secretions to obtain scent information for individual recognition rather than species or sex recognition.

Behavioral changes during early development provide useful insights into the internal mechanisms that generate complex behavior expressed by mature individuals. At the same time, social conditions during early adult phase can influence behavior in later stages of development even in holometabolous insects. In this study, age-dependent changes in courtship behavior and the effect of social conditions were examined in a fruit fly, . Younger males showed lower mating activity and simpler courtship behavior. Mating activity reached a maximum level by 5 days after eclosion, whereas expression of complex courtship behavior was not yet fully developed at that time, suggesting that they are controlled by different mechanisms. When two males were maintained in the same vial, not only mating activity but also courtship complexity was reduced, demonstrating for the first time that preceding social experience, not current social conditions, influenced the complexity of male courtship. The effect of social experience was completely erased by 1 day of isolation, however, showing that social experience did not suppress or promote behavioral development itself. Rather, these results suggest that the observed effect of social experience was a plastic response of males that reduced investment in courtship effort by anticipating increased male-male competition.

In animals, it is known that age affects the abilities of the brain. In spiders, we showed that aging affects web characteristics due to behavioral alterations during web building. In this study, we investigated the effects of age on the associations between morphological changes to the spider brain and changes in web characteristics. The orb web spider - (Araneae, Araneidae) was used to test these relationships. Experiments were conducted on young (19 ± 2 days after adult molt,  = 13) and old (146 ± 32 days,  = 20) virgin females. The brain volume decreased with age (by 10%). Age also had an impact on the number of anomalies in the capture area generated during web building. The statistical relationships between the volume of the brain and web characteristics showed that there was an effect of age on both. Our results showed that in spiders, aging affects the brain volume and correlates with characteristics (anomalies) of the web. As web building is the result of complex behavioral processes, we suggest that aging affects spider behavior by causing some brain alterations.

Many kinds of environmental noise can interfere with acoustic communication and efficient decision making in terrestrial species. Here we identified an exception to this generalization in a streamside species, the little torrent frog () which communicates in a stream noise environment. To determine whether stream noise can act as a cue regarding the microhabitat characteristics of senders, we performed phonotaxis experiments using stimulus pairs constructed with synthetic male calls (high or low dominant frequency) and stream noise with varied signal-to-noise ratios. We found that females prefer calls with high amplitude stream noise added compared to those with low amplitude stream noise added for both high and low dominant frequency stimulus pairs; however, stream noise itself was not attractive in the absence of calls. These results show that stream noise can function as a cue that may be used by females for enhancing the attractiveness of calls. Stream noise associates closely with rocks, topographies and vegetation and may thus provide useful microhabitat information for signal receivers, thereby acting on sexual selection. These data therefore contribute to our understanding of how the perception of mate attractiveness in heterogeneous ecological environments can evolve.

Utilisation of animal personality has potential benefit for conservation management. Due to logistics of robust behavioural evaluation in situ, the majority of studies on wild animals involve taking animals into captivity for testing, potentially compromising results. Three in situ tests for evaluation of boldness in San Joaquin kit fox () were developed (ENOT: extended novel object test; RNOT: rapid novel object test; TH: trap/handling test). Each test successfully identified variation in boldness within its target age class(es). The TH test was suitable for use across all age classes. Tests were assessed for in situ suitability and for quantity/quality of data yielded. ENOT was rated as requiring high levels of time, cost and labour with greater likelihood of failure. However, it was rated highly for data quantity/quality. The TH test was rated as requiring little time, labour and cost, but yielding lower quality data. RNOT was rated in the middle. Each test had merit and could be adapted to suit project or species constraints. We recommend field-based evaluation of personality, reducing removal of animals from the wild and facilitating routine incorporation of personality assessment into conservation projects.

An evolutionary trap occurs when an organism makes a formerly adaptive decision that now results in a maladaptive outcome. Such traps can be induced by anthropogenic environmental changes, with nonnative species introductions being a leading cause. The recent establishment of coyotes () into the southeastern USA has the potential to change white-tailed deer () population dynamics through direct predation and behavioral adaptation. We used movement rate and bedsite characteristics of radiocollared neonates to evaluate their antipredator strategies in the context of novel predation risk in a structurally homogeneous, fire-maintained ecosystem. Neonate bedsites had greater plant cover values compared with random sites ( = 30.136;  < 0.001), indicating bedsite selection was consistent with the hider strategy used to avoid predation. We determined selection gradients of coyote predation on neonate movement rate and plant cover and diversity at bedsites during the first 10 days of life. Interestingly, neonates that moved less and bedded in denser cover were more likely to be depredated by coyotes, meaning that greater neonate movement rate and bedsites located in less dense cover were favored by natural selection. These results are counter to expected antipredator strategies in white-tailed deer and exemplify how an adaptive response could be maladaptive in novel contexts.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10164-017-0519-7.].

Males of the hermit crab perform assessment behavior toward females, as a preliminary step of precopulatory guarding, during the reproductive season. It is known that such behavior is elicited by female sex pheromones, but the compounds involved have never been characterized in this species. Several experiments were conducted to develop a reliable bioassay along with purification procedures to identify potential compounds with pheromonal activity in . We developed a bioassay protocol to assess pheromonal activity by using an empty shell with cotton containing either artificial seawater (control) or test water. We measured and compared the time duration of male assessment behavior toward each shell if the test water contained female sex pheromones. Ultra-filtering of seawater samples potentially containing pheromones showed that the compound was <1 kDa in molecular weight. Males showed precopulatory assessment behavior toward "female conditioned" water samples treated with open column purification and eluted with MeOH, suggesting that compounds triggering male behavior were low polar molecules. Molecules with pheromonal activity were not volatile after freeze drying, effective even after heating to 90 °C, and remained active in seawater at 12 °C even after 6 days from sample collection, which suggests a rather stable characteristic of the female sex pheromones of this species.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10164-017-0515-y.].

Male butterflies compete over mating opportunities. Two types of contest behavior are reported. Males of various butterfly species compete over a mating territory via aerial interactions until one of the two contestants retreats. Males of other butterfly species fly around larval food plants to find receptive females. Males of some species among the latter type can find a conspecific pupa, and they gather around it without expelling their rivals. Scramble competition over mating occurs when a female emerges from the pupa. Many studies have been performed on territorial species, and their contest resolution has often been understood from the point of view of contest models based on game theory. However, these models cannot explain why these butterflies perform contest displays despite the fact that they do not have the ability to attack their opponent. A recent study based on Lloyd Morgan's Canon showed that territorial contests of male butterflies are better understood as erroneous courtship between sexually active males. In this paper, I review research on contests over mating opportunity in butterflies, and show that the erroneous courtship framework can explain not only territorial contests of butterflies but also why males do not determine the owner of a conspecific pupa.

Many examples of mimicry have been reported in coral reef fishes of which the most well known is the mimicry of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, by the false cleanerfish, . To examine the effect of protective and aggressive mimicry of , mortality and feeding behavior were compared with those of the non-mimic lance blenny, , by field observations on the coral reefs of Miyako Island, Okinawa, southern Japan. Survival rate of was more than twice higher than that of , but the detected differences were not significant, and the effect of protective mimicry could not be determined. The benthic foods common to both species (the tubeworm, and the boring clam, ) were very scarce in the study sites, and the feeding behavior of the two species was clearly different: pecked at the bottom substrate, whereas fed on fish fins and eggs of damselfish, regardless of body size. Our findings are the first documented evidence of the effect of aggressive mimicry on biting fish fins in relation to the availability of other foods not only in small but also in large