Document Type
Poster
Abstract
In salamanders, successful reproduction requires communication. Most male salamanders communicate to the female during courtship via a gland on their chin, called the mental gland. The sexually dimorphic mental gland in the dermis of the lower jaw is typical in males of species in the family Plethodontidae and is considered ancestral to the family (Sever et al. 2016). The mental gland consists of an aggregate of modified granular glands (MGGs) that produce pheromones (Houck and Sever, 1994; Rupp and Sever, 2018). During courtship, pheromones secreted from mental glands are delivered to the female through head rubbing and biting (Houck and Sever, 1994; Picard, 2005; Arnold et al. 2017).
These pheromones increase female receptivity and are an integral part of courtship (Houck and Reagan, 1990; Fontana et al. 2007). Interestingly, males in some clades of Plethodontidae, including Plethodon larselli (Larch Mountain Salamander), lack mental glands (Crisafulli, 2008). This is an evolutionary puzzle–why would a fitness enhancing gland be lost?No research has explored the courtship behavior of P. larselli, and no histological studies have characterized their mental gland region. In this project, Periodic acid Schiff differential staining (Floyd, 1990: Rollins and Staub, 2017) was used to confirm the absence of mental courtship glands in P. larselli and explore the hypothesis that pheromone secreting tissue is located elsewhere on the head of P. larselli.
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Publication Date
10-5-2024
Keywords
Plethodon Iarselli, mental glands, pheremones, salamander reproduction
Disciplines
Biology
Recommended Citation
Hopkins, Jaxon and Staub, Nancy, "Histological Characterization of Larch Mountain Salamander (Plethodon larselli) Head Glands" (2024). CURCI Student Research. 3.
https://repository.gonzaga.edu/curcistudent/3
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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Comments
This poster was presented at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Showcase hosted by Gonzaga University's Center for Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry.