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- Title
Song mimicry of Black-bellied FirefinchLagonosticta raraand other finches by the brood-parasitic Cameroon IndigobirdVidua camerunensisin West Africa.
- Authors
Payne, R. B.; Barlow, C. R.; Balakrishnan, C. N.; Sorenson, M. D.
- Abstract
Brood-parasitic finchesViduaspp. mimic songs of their foster species, with mostViduaspecies both mimicking songs and parasitizing nests of a single estrildid finch species. We describe a behavioural radiation in the Cameroon IndigobirdVidua camerunensis. Local populations are polymorphic in behaviour, each male mimicking songs of a single species, with certain males mimicking songs of one species and other males mimicking songs of another host species. The species most often mimicked in song are Black-bellied FirefinchLagonosticta raraand African FirefinchL. rubricata; other species mimicked in song are Brown TwinspotClytospiza monteiriand Dybowski's TwinspotEuschistospiza dybowskii. Indigobirds in the different mimicry song populations do not differ morphologically in plumage colour or size. The lack of morphological differences between male indigobirds with different mimicry songs is consistent with a recent behavioural radiation through host shifts, perhaps facilitated by environmental change associated with prehistoric cultivation of grain. The mimicry song populations of indigobirds, behaviourally imprinted upon different host species, support the idea of a process of speciation driven by a shift to new host species.
- Subjects
WEST Africa; SONGS; IMITATIVE behavior; FINCHES; SPECIES; BEHAVIOR
- Publication
Ibis, 2005, Vol 147, Issue 1, p130
- ISSN
0019-1019
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1474-919x.2004.00378.x