Self-recognition in crickets via on-line processing

Self-referent phenotype matching, the ability of animals to use aspects of their own phenotype as a referent in discrimination decisions, is believed to play a significant role in nepotistic interactions and mate choice in a wide range of taxa [1]. An individual’s ability to assess the similarity between its own phenotype and that of the individuals it encounters can provide a reliable measure of relatedness, thereby facilitating inbreeding avoidance, optimal outbreeding or altruistic behavior towards kin 2 and 3. Although self-referencing is believed to be widespread, definitive evidence is scarce and its role in recognition controversial, in part, because of the difficulty in ruling out early exposure to close kin and the possibility that individuals imprint on maternal cues early in their ontogeny, either during birth or via cues encountered upon hatching from eggs 1 and 4. An equally important, yet unanswered question is whether individuals that perform self-referencing imprint on t...