During mating events, numerous mammals and birds produce loud and acoustically distinct vocalisations, usually referred to as ‘copulation calls’. In some species, males are the main producers (e.g. little brown bats, Myotis lucifugus, Barclay & Thomas 1979), but generally they are given by females, sometimes accompanied by their male partner (e.g. elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, Cox & ...

Adult female New Zealand white rabbits with chronically implanted electrodes were used. Potentials (EVPs) were consistently evoked in the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) including the median eminence and the arcuate nucleus by stimulation of the dorsal. hippocampus (HPC), medial amygdala (AMYG) and preoptic area (POA). These EVPs were variously influenced under endogenous or exogenous hormonal ...

Hangingflies are unique for the male providing a nuptial gift to the female during mating and taking a face-to-face hanging copulation with the female. Their male genitalia are peculiar for an extremely elongated penisfilum, a pair of well-developed epandrial lobes (9th tergum), and a pair of degenerated gonostyli. However, the co-evolution of their face-to-face copulation behavior and the male...

Gonadal hormones have primarily slow, genomically mediated effects, but copulation requires rapid interactions with a partner. A major way in which hormones facilitate male sexual behavior is by increasing production of neurotransmitter receptors or of enzymes that regulate neurotransmitter synthesis or release. Dopamine is an important facilitative neurotransmitter, and the medial preoptic are...

In one of his few major oversights, Darwin failed to appreciate that male-male competition and sexual selection can continue even after copulation has begun. The postcopulatory equivalents of both direct male-male battles (sperm competition) and female choice (cryptic female choice) occur within the female's body. Recognition of this hidden, but intense, sexual competition provides new insights...

The adaptive function of copulation calls in female primates has been debated for years. One influential idea is that copulation calls are a sexually selected trait, which enables females to advertise their receptive state to males. Male-male competition ensues and females benefit by getting better mating partners and higher quality offspring. We analysed the copulation calling behaviour of wil...

The paper examines the precopulatory behaviour and copulation in Segmentina oelandica. The morphological traits associated with this process are discussed. The anatomy of the copulatory apparatus is studied using histological and histochemical (phalloidin fluorescence) methods. The copulation is shown to be a complex process determined by a specific set of morphological, physiological, behaviou...

We investigated male mate choice and mating competency in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., using video tracking for 10 min per experiment. In the male mate choice experiment, when a male was placed with two females of different mating status, males preferred to initiate copulation with the virgin female more quickly than with the mated female, and the mean total copulation duration wit...

The medial preoptic area (MPOA) is an important integrative site for male sexual behavior. Dopamine (DA) is released in the MPOA of male rats shortly before and during copulation. The recent presence of testosterone (T) may be necessary for this precopulatory increase in release. Previously, the postcastration loss of copulatory ability mirrored the loss of the DA response to an estrous female,...

The courtship and copulation behaviours of the lizard Ameiva ameiva is described from field observations made at various locations in Brazil. In males, main observed during one observation were head bobbing, circling walking over females, rubbing his body against female, mounting, dismounting. Females generally remain passive throughout courtship. reproductive behaviour A. resembles that other ...