A happy event!

A few days ago I photographed the sensuous courtship dance of the tank traps on Newburgh beach.

Quite a few couples are now courting and today I discovered something new about the reproductive cycle of this long lived species. When I looked to the landward side of this mating pair I was surprised to see that a birth had already occurred. It seems that among tank traps the female undergoes a post partum oestrus whereby the female mates and conceives again immediately following the birth of her young.

It is also clear that the young are born without the elaborate ornamentation on their upper surface, suggesting that it has a role to play in sexual behaviour rather in defence as was previously thought.

We still have a lot to learn about tank traps!