Kelleri displaying

[MonteSS]

Do all Apistos display like this with their mouth wide open, or is this an aggressive posture. He seems to be displaying to me, although the female apears to be impressed. He still wont show her much interest, although he is getting better with her.

http://s453.photobucket.com/albums/qq257/zz430t56/?action=view&current=MVI_6943.mp4

...Bill

 

[Mike Wise]

This is typical dominance display for many species, but not all. It is useful in phylogenetic location of species. Most of the species in the trifasciata-lineage (except A. arua and species of the trifasciata-group) use the head-on open-mouth display. Species in the pertensis- and regani-lineages almost never do. Instead, they use a broadside closed-mouth display. Koslowski (2002) discusses this behaviour in detail.