Sex attraction and recognition in the caridean shrimpHeptacarpus paludicolaHolmes (Decapoda: Hippolytidae)

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Abstract
Newly molted female Heptacarpus paludicola with full ovaries evoke a copulatory response from males upon contact. Males recognize a matable female for copulation by apparent contact chemoreception with the antennal flagellae. Observational evidence in this species and in several others cited in the literature did not strongly suggest distance perception of matable females by males. However, when tested in an experimental “olfactometer” evidence was obtained to indicate that matable females of this species emit a pheromone that increases activity of males, whereas hard‐shelled, embryo‐bearing females do not. Although newly molted females with full ovaries were by far the most effective in evoking copulatory behavior from males, newly molted females without ovarian development (due to parasitization or food deprivation) showed varying degrees of attractiveness. Newly molted males were not attractive to other males. The duration of attractiveness to males was less than one day after matable females had molted. Chemicals associated with the hardening of the cuticle are suggested as a possibility for the apparent contact pheromone involved in sex recognition.
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