A generalized female bias for long tails in a short-tailed widowbird

Sarah R. Pryke*, Staffan Andersson

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    33 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Tail elongation in the polygynous widowbirds (Euplectes spp.) has evoked both adaptive and non-adaptive explanations. Female choice has been shown in the three longest tailed species (20-50 cm), whereas an agonistic function was proposed for a medium-tailed (10 cm) widowbird. To test the generality and directionality of sexual selection on tail length in widowbirds, we experimentally investigated selection in the relatively short-tailed (7 cm) red-shouldered widowbirds (E. axillaris). Prior to territory establishment, males were assigned to four tail-treatment groups; control, short, long and supernormal (similar to a sympatric long-tailed congener). No effects on male competition were detected as the groups were equally successful in acquiring territories of similar size and quality. However, mating success among the 92 territorial males was strongly skewed in favour of supernormal-tailed males (62% of active nests; 5.2 ± 1.3 nests per territory). Long-tailed males also acquired more nests (1.9 ± 0.7) than control (0.7 ± 0.5) and short-tailed (0.5 ± 0.3) males, while the latter two groups did not differ significantly. These results support a general, open-ended female preference for long tails in widowbirds and may represent a receiver bias that arose early in their divergence from the short-tailed weaverbirds (Ploceinae).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2141-2146
    Number of pages6
    JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
    Volume269
    Issue number1505
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 22 Oct 2002

    Keywords

    • Euplectes axillaris
    • Receiver bias
    • Sexual selection
    • Tail length
    • Widowbirds

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