Socio-ethogram of adult males versus biochemical-genetic variation in assessing phylogenetic relationships of the Caprinae

To investigate phylogenetic relationships among 9 genera of the Caprinae (Capra, Ammotragus, Hemitragus, Pseudois, Ovis, Rupicapra, Oreamnos, Nemorhaedus, Capri- cornis) behaviours involved in courtship and mating, aggression, threat, dominance, submission, and marking of adult males were subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Based on all 32 characters and 96 character states investigated, phylogenetic patterns generally were in good agreement with biochemical-genetic data avaliable. Discordance between phylogenetic trees constructed from behavioural and from biochemical-genetic traits as to the position of Ammotragus turned out to be associated with ethological functional categories. Behaviours involved in courtship and mating were identified as the most reliable ones for phylogenetic studies. Courtship displays function as isolation mechanisms among closely related taxa. This is of paramount importance in those forms where secondary sexual characters such as horns are poorly differentiated while in highly evolved taxa size and shape of horns may also trigger readiness for mating in estrous females.