SOURCES OF SCENT USED BY PRAIRIE VOLES, MICROTUS-OCHROGASTER, TO CONVEY SEXUAL IDENTITY TO CONSPECIFICS

The presence or absence of specific odor-producing tissues has been us ed to suggest phylogenetic relationships among microtine rodents, but has not been related to patterns of social organization. We examined t he sources of sex-specific scents in prairie voles, Microtus ochrogast er, using a preference task. Prairie voles have eight sources of sex-s pecific scents. Four scents, namely those from the urine, feces, anoge nital area, and mouth were more attractive to opposite- than same-sex conspecifics. Three scents were attractive to one sex but not the othe r. Scent from the back of females was attractive to males and scents f rom the chest and head - neck - ears of males were attractive to femal es. Scent from the male posterolateral region was attractive to both f emales and males. We then compared these eight sources of scent with t he known sources of scent from meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, a species whose social system is unlike that of prairie voles. Prairie voles have more sources of sex-specific scent than meadow voles. This difference supports the hypothesis that the number of sources of sex- specific scent is greater in a social species (prairie voles) than in an asocial species (meadow voles).