AGGRESSION, TERRITORIALITY, AND MATING-BEHAVIOR IN NORTH-AMERICAN TREEFROGS

I examined the behaviour of Hyla versicolor during four breeding seasons. Calling males are territorial and use the mating call as a cue in maintaining their spacing. Males defend territories using encounter calls and ultimately, fighting. Males that lose vocal interactions or fights sometimes cease calling and remain silent within the territory of other, dominant males. Females approach males at their calling sites, initiate amplexus with a nudge, and remain in amplexus for more than 4 h. Such behaviour occasionally allows subordinate males to obtain use of a calling perch. The behaviour described for H. versicolor is compared with that seen in eight other species of North American Hyla. © 1979.