Social deprivation early in life affects further individual development and leads to irreversible behavioural alterations later in life. Although the syndrome is well-studied in vertebrates including humans, its presence in invertebrates has been described only in eusocial insects and cockroaches. Here we show the first evidence of social deprivation in subsocial decapod crustaceans, based on analysis of video-recorded agonistic encounters of juvenile red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii, Girard). In comparison with maternally incubated juveniles, isolated crayfish had altered repertoires, numbers and frequency of agonistic interactions similar to those described in vertebrates. Our results support the view on the syndrome of social deprivation as a ubiquitous trait in species with developed maternal care across diverse taxa.

Department of Ethology Research Institute of Animal Production Přátelství 815 Praha 104 01 Czech Republic Department of Animal Science and Ethology Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 Praha Suchdol 165 00 Czech Republic

Department of Zoology and Fisheries Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 Praha Suchdol 165 00 Czech Republic

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