Love is in the air: additional evidence for a volatile sex-attractant pheromone in snakes

Abstract Many taxa utilise chemosensation as their primary sensory modality and communicate with one another using pheromones. Sex-attractant pheromones facilitate mate location provide information regarding the reproductive status of potential mate. Snakes have adaptively radiated to many different habitats, some which preclude possibility depositing a continuous terrestrial pheromone trail (e.g., arboreal, semi-aquatic). We suggest that volatile signals are present in species inhabiting such environments. The majority investigations into snake sex-attractant examined species, largely ignoring non-terrestrial signal modality. existence northern watersnake ( Nerodia sipedon ) modified Y-maze. During mating period, males this semi-aquatic successfully trailed both from estrous females but did not or non-estrous other males. Whether single multimodal (or multiple pheromones) produced result remains unknown. However, we feel future nature Ophidia would prove fruitful; particularly for aquatic, providing greater understanding communication system dynamics.