Curious “luteolus”: phonotactic response to simulated threat in territorial Raorchestes luteolus

Territoriality in animals is a costly behavioural engagement with severe consequences, often resulting in the loss of one individual’s resources. Therefore, behavioural displays are carefully selected and conducted, as their failure may result in costlier physical combats. Here, we studied the agonistic behaviour of a little-studied frog endemic to the Western Ghats of India, Raorchestes luteolus, in response to a simulated territorial intrusion using a playback experiment. We recorded seven territorial behavioural displays, of which the most frequent behaviours in a sequence of occurrences were a vocal challenge, followed by orientation towards the sound source, approaching the source and ultimately deserting their territories at the end of the experimental trial. We found a significant positive effect of temperature on the displacement distance after deserting the territory. Further, for the first time, we report a second call type in this species that we refer to as aggressive call and we provide a detailed description of the advertisement calls. Advertisement calls were complex and each note displayed an initial and main section that varied in pulse rate and number. The two call types differed in their temporal structure, especially in the introductory pulses of the aggressive calls. Alongside adding substantial information on call types, our study details the behavioural sequences displayed by the territorial males in response to simulated threats.

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