Abstract

Social-chemical recognition is exhibited by all the Liolaemus lizards tested to date, except Liolaemus fitzgeraldi, which during post-hibernation did not discriminate chemosignals of same-sex individuals from a control. To clarify if L. fitzgeraldi is unique among the studied Liolaemus in lacking social-chemical recognition or if this was previously undetected, we recorded behavior during pre- and post-hibernation when confronted with chemosignals of conspecifics and from themselves. L fitzgeraldi showed self-recognition and seasonal changes in two exploratory behaviors. Potentially, conspecific recognition in L fitzgeraldi was undetected due to seasonality, but this species may rely comparatively less on chemical communication than congeners. © 2008 Japan Ethological Society and Springer.