DOI: 10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvtj
title: Function of waving variation in Leptuca pugilator

description: Fiddler crabs use signaling as a prevalent part of their life histories.
 The waving of the major (enlarged) claw serves as a signal for attracting
 mates and in territorial interactions with other males. These waves vary
 considerably in structure and pattern and although their general use in
 mate attraction and male competition has been established, the possible
 function of different types of waves used in different social contexts has
 not been widely studied. In this study, we investigate the possible
 functional significance of predominant wave types by examining the
 behavioral context in which they are performed by male Leptuca pugilator
 (Atlantic Sand Fiddler Crab) in South Carolina salt marshes. We found that
 2 wave types occurred most frequently. “D-waves” were most common when
 facing other males and were influenced by the distance to the nearest
 neighbor, while “up-and-down waves” were most common when females were
 present and when the focal crab was facing a female. Our findings suggest
 that these 2 waves may, respectively, be used primarily inmale–male
 competitive interactions and in attracting mates.
description: Data were collected via video observations of naturally waving
 fiddler crabs.
description: # Waving data for Leptuca pugilator
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvtj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvtj) ## Description of the data and file structure The dataset provides information on waving behavior for the Atlantic Sand Fiddler Crab Leptuca pugilator. The data are in a .csv file (Types_of_Waves-Fiddler_Crabs) and include the following columns: FileNumber - This is the video vile from which the data on that row were captured. CrabID - This is a unique identifier for each individual crab analyzed. Type.of.Wave - This is the name of the wave type being recorded. DWave - Binomial indicator of whether the wave was a D-Wave UpAndDownWave - Binomial indicator of whether the wave was an Up-and-Down-Wave CWave - Binomial indicator of whether the wave was a C-Wave TriWave - Binomial indicator of whether the wave was a Tri-Wave SideToSide - Binomial indicator of whether the wave was a Side-to-Side-Wave ReverseDWave - Binomial indicator of whether the wave was a ReverseD-Wave NumWaves - Number of waves counted during the waving bought Active - Whether the crab was active in other activities during the recording FacingMale - Whether the focal crab was facing a male FacingFemale - Whether the focal crab was facing a female FacingNothing - Whether the focal crab was facing nothing UnableToTell - Whether it was impossible to tell what t crab was facing because it was on the edge of the video frame FemalesPresent - Whether there was a female present during the waving bought DistanceToNearestNeighbor - distance to the closest crab. Some values are 'NA' because no other individual was present in the video frame when individuals were waving. InOutOfHole - Whether the crab went in and out of its burrow during the waving bought TimeStamp - Video time stamp representing the waving bought rcorded WavesPerSec - Waving rate in waves per second Seconds - Duration of the waving bought in seconds obs_effect - unique number for each waving bought used as observation level effect in analysis Missing data: NA