Title Participants Abstract "A single bivulval female of Xiphinema diversicaudatum and two bivulval females of Xiphinema vuittenezi (Nematoda: Longidoridae)" "S Kumari, Wilfrida Decraemer" "A population of Xiphinema vuittenezi from an apple orchard and a population of X. diversicaudatum from a peach orchard yielded bivulval females. Morphometrics of these females are presented." "Mating status affects female choice when females are signalers" "Michiel Van Wijk" "Sexual selection in animals has been mostly studied in species in which males are signalers and females are choosers. However, in many species, females are (also) signalers. In species with non-signaling females, virgin females are hypothesized to be less choosy than mated females, as virgins must mate to realize fitness and the number of available males is generally limited. Yet, when females signal to attract males, mate limitation can be overcome. We tested how virgin and mated females differ in their calling behavior, mating latency, and in mate choice, using the tobacco budworm Chloridea (Heliothis) virescens as an example for a species in which females are not only choosers but also signalers. We found that virgin females signaled longer than mated females, but virgin and mated signaling females were equally ready to mate, in contrast to non-signaling females. However, we found that virgin signaling females showed weaker mate preference than mated females, which can be explained by the fact that females increase their fitness with multiple matings. Mated females may thus further increase their fitness by more stringent mate selection. We conclude that signaling is a crucial aspect to consider when studying female mate choice because signaling may affect the number of available mates to choose from." "Hormis pour le fisc, cohabitation légale n’égale pas mariage" "Elise Goossens" "Exploring the association between perceived male attitudes and female attitudes toward the discontinuation of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Egypt" "Zita Zsabokorszky, Sarah Van de Velde, Kristien Michielsen, Nina Van Eekert" "IntroductionThere are 200 million girls and women alive worldwide that have undergone the practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and 4 million girls are at risk of undergoing the practice each year. FGM/C provides no known health benefits, while puts a plethora of medical, psychological, and sexual health risks into perspective. One of the countries where the prevalence of FGM/C is the highest in the World, even though local authorities legally banned the practice in 2008, is Egypt. Within the Egyptian context, there are several complex socioeconomic, religious, and cultural drivers that influence the familial decision making of the daughters being cut. Female attitudes hold great significance in the process, because mothers and female family members are typically the prime decision makers at the daughter's circumcision. However, whilst FGM/C is often performed to enhance marriageability and address male preferences, in practicing communities there is little to no open communication between men and women about the practice, making women rely on their perceptions on FGM/C related expectations of men. Even though the connection between female and perceived male attitudes toward the discontinuation was established almost 20 years ago, since then to our knowledge little is known about the further characteristics of this association. Therefore, this study aims to explore the association between female and perceived male attitudes within families of a younger cohort and moreover attempts to provide a more layered picture of it within different levels of education. MethodsTo explore the relation between female and perceived male attitudes toward the discontinuation of FGM/C we conducted a 3-step binary logistic regression model. ResultsOur results show that women are significantly less likely to favor a continuation of FGM/C if they think men are disapproving of the practice, compared to women that think men want it to continue. The strength of this association partially varies between the different levels of education as it is less pronounced at the level of secondary education, compared to the reference group. DiscussionIn alignment with previous findings in the literature, women were more likely to support the discontinuation of FGM/C if they believed that men want the practice to discontinue as well and vice versa. At a higher level of secondary education however this association is less pronounced. This result concludes that the role of perceived male attitudes should be an important factor associated with female ones and studied further, and underlines the importance of education in women empowerment." "Corrigendum: Exploring the association between perceived male attitudes and female attitudes toward the discontinuation of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Egypt" "Zita ZSABOKORSZKY, Sarah van de Velde, Kristien Michielsen, Nina Van Eekert" "[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1183989.]." "Attractiveness of female sexual signaling predicts differences in female grouping patterns between bonobos and chimpanzees" "M. Surbeck, Cedric Girard-Buttoz, Liran Samuni, C. Boesch, Barbara Fruth, Catherine Crockford, Roman M. Wittig, G. Hohmann" "Here we show that sexual signaling affects patterns of female spatial association differently in chimpanzees and bonobos, indicating its relevance in shaping the respective social systems. Generally, spatial association between females often mirrors patterns and strength of social relationships and cooperation within groups. While testing for proposed differences in female-female associations underlying female coalition formation in the species of the genus Pan, we find only limited evidence for a higher female-female gregariousness in bonobos. While bonobo females exhibited a slightly higher average number of females in their parties, there is neither a species difference in the time females spent alone, nor in the number of female party members in the absence of sexually attractive females. We find that the more frequent presence of maximally tumescent females in bonobos is associated with a significantly stronger increase in the number of female party members, independent of variation in a behavioural proxy for food abundance. This indicates the need to look beyond ecology when explaining species differences in female sociality as it refutes the idea that the higher gregariousness among bonobo females is driven by ecological factors alone and highlights that the temporal distribution of female sexual receptivity is an important factor to consider when studying mammalian sociality. © 2021, The Author(s)." "Does the tie fit the female? Melanin-based colouration, aggressive personality and reproductive investment in female great tits (Parus major)" "Annie Pinxten, Marcel Eens" "The evolution and function of female trait exaggeration in species with traditional sex roles are poorly understood. Competition for social and ecological resources, rather than mating opportunities, may be a key selection pressure in females of socially monogamous species. Moreover, such pre-existing resource competition-selected traits (armaments) may become the object of mating preferences (ornaments); however, the benefits that males may gain in choosing more ornamented females remain unclear. Here, using observational data on freeliving female great tits (Parus major), we explore whether tie size, a well-known melanin-pigmented plumage trait, covaries with intrasexual aggressiveness during the breeding season and the investment in current reproduction (fledgling number and mass).We found consistent individual differences (i.e. personality variation) in most of the aggressiveness parameters studied.Moreover, we found support for a signalling role of tie size with respects to how close females approached intruders. Interestingly, this relationship was only evident in older females, not first-year breeding females, suggesting age-related changes in the information content of tie size in the context of samesex aggressiveness. Additionally, although first-year breeding females, on average, produced fledglings with lower body mass compared to older females, tie size was positively associated with fledgling mass, suggesting that males could potentially gain benefits by choosing females with larger tie size. Experimental studies are now necessary to confirm whether females with larger tie size have a selective advantage in female competition (i.e. armament), as well as whether males base their mate choice on female tie size (i.e. ornament)." "Female urethroplasty : a practical guide emphasizing diagnosis and surgical treatment of female urethral stricture disease" "Marjan Waterloos" "Female urethral strictures are rare. Guidelines on how to diagnose and treat these strictures are lacking. At present, only expert opinion is available to guide clinical practice. Once the diagnosis is suspected based on obstructive voiding symptoms and uroflowmetry, most clinicians will use in addition video-urodynamics (including urethrography), urethral calibration and cystourethroscopy for confirmation of the diagnosis. Clinical inspection and gynaecological examination are also important. Urethral dilation is usually the first-line treatment despite the lack of long-term success. Female urethroplasty is associated with higher success rates. A multitude of techniques are described but not one technique has shown superiority above another. This narrative review aims to provide a clinical guide for diagnosis and treatment to the urologist motivated to perform female urethroplasty." "Discrimination of Three Basic Female Voice Types in Female Singing Students by Voice Range Profile-Derived Parameters" "Hugo Lycke, Wivine Decoster, Anna Ivanova, Marc Van Hulle, Felix De Jong" "Aims: To assess whether individual parameters or combinations of voice range profile parameters (also called ‘features’) are able to yield a clear cluster separation with which three basic female voice categories can be discriminated and can provide a basis for settling the issue of voice classification. Methods: The voice range profiles of 206 female conservatory singing students were recorded, parameterized into more compact descriptions (‘features’), and subjected to a cluster analysis. Results: The three-cluster case provided the most consistent solution across all feature combinations. The feature that led to the best cluster separation was the ratio of the perimeter length of the chest voice part of the voice range profile versus the total perimeter length. Conclusions: Based on a statistical analysis of voice range profile parameters, the ratio of the perimeter length of the chest voice versus the total perimeter length was shown to yield a clear separation into three basic female voice types, which in turn may give us a basis for settling the issue of voice classification." "Discrimination of Three Basic Female Voice Types in Female Singing Students by Voice Range Profile-Derived Parameters" "Wivine Decoster, Anna Ivanova, Marc Van Hulle, Felix De Jong" "Aims: To assess whether individual parameters or combinations of voice range profile parameters (also called ‘features’) are able to yield a clear cluster separation with which three basic female voice categories can be discriminated and can provide a basis for settling the issue of voice classification. Methods: The voice range profiles of 206 female conservatory singing students were recorded, parameterized into more compact descriptions (‘features’), and subjected to a cluster analysis. Results: The three-cluster case provided the most consistent solution across all feature combinations. The feature that led to the best cluster separation was the ratio of the perimeter length of the chest voice part of the voice range profile versus the total perimeter length. Conclusions: Based on a statistical analysis of voice range profile parameters, the ratio of the perimeter length of the chest voice versus the total perimeter length was shown to yield a clear separation into three basic female voice types, which in turn may give us a basis for settling the issue of voice classification."