Many animal signals are brightly colored and convey information about species identity as well as information about individual conspecifics. Colorful bird and lizard signals have received much attention, and many studies have related specific spectral properties of these signals to variation in mating success and territory defense. Far less attention has been given to invertebrates even though there are spectacularly colorful species. The enlarged claw of the male banana fiddler crab Austruca mjoebergi, for example, is bright yellow and contrasts vividly against the mudflat substrate. It is used in waving displays to attract females and in male territory defense and combat. Claw color varies among males in the degree of “yellowness,” ranging very pale yellow to orange. In this study, we examined female responses to claw color variation in two-choice tests using robotic crabs. We found that although females strongly discriminate against colors that fall outside the natural range of intensity, hue, and chroma, they show no consistent preferences for different claw colors within the natural range, and no single component of claw color (hue, chroma, or intensity) independently affected female choices. Using three-choice tests, we also showed that female preferences induce stabilizing selection on male claw color. We conclude that, although claw color is sufficient to facilitate species recognition, it is unlikely to be used in intraspecific mate choice to provide information about male quality. Fiddler crabs are often brightly colored, are visually orientated animals, and have a highly complex social system. Despite this, there are few studies that have looked at the role of color in species recognition and mate choice in these animals. In this study, we use robotic crabs with painted claws to determine the role of claw color in species recognition and mate choice in the banana fiddler crab, Austruca mjoebergi. We found that color is important in conspecific mate recognition but the variation among males in claw “yellowness” is unlikely to be used by females in intraspecific mate choice decisions.

中文翻译：

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爪颜色在招潮蟹物种识别和配偶选择中的作用

许多动物信号颜色鲜艳，传达有关物种身份的信息以及有关个体同种的信息。五颜六色的鸟类和蜥蜴信号受到了很多关注，许多研究将这些信号的特定光谱特性与交配成功和领土防御的变化联系起来。尽管有五颜六色的物种，但对无脊椎动物的关注却少得多。例如，雄性香蕉提琴蟹 Austruca mjoebergi 的扩大爪子呈亮黄色，与泥滩基底形成鲜明对比。它用于挥舞展示以吸引女性和男性领土防御和战斗。爪子的颜色在雄性的“黄色”程度上有所不同，从非常淡的黄色到橙色不等。在这项研究中，我们在使用机器螃蟹的两项选择测试中检查了女性对爪子颜色变化的反应。我们发现，虽然雌性对强度、色调和色度的自然范围之外的颜色有强烈的歧视，但它们对自然范围内的不同爪色没有表现出一致的偏好，也没有单一的爪色成分（色调、色度或色度）。强度）独立影响女性的选择。使用三项选择测试，我们还表明女性偏好会导致对男性爪子颜色的稳定选择。我们得出的结论是，尽管爪子颜色足以促进物种识别，但不太可能用于种内配偶选择以提供有关雄性品质的信息。招潮蟹通常颜色鲜艳，是视觉导向的动物，具有高度复杂的社会系统。尽管如此，很少有研究关注颜色在这些动物的物种识别和配偶选择中的作用。在这项研究中，我们使用涂有爪子的机器蟹来确定爪子颜色在香蕉招潮蟹 Austruca mjoebergi 的物种识别和配偶选择中的作用。我们发现颜色在同种配偶识别中很重要，但雌性不太可能在种内配偶选择决策中使用雄性爪“黄色”的变化。