© 1995 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
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Morphological adaptations to an extreme sexual display, stone-carrying in the black wheatear, Oenanthe leucura
aDepartment of Population Biology, Zoological Institute, Copenhagen University, Universitetsparken 15 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark bDepartment of Animal Ecology, Swedish Agricultural University S-901 83 Umeá, Sweden cDepartamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada E-18001 Granada, Spain dMuseo National de Ciencias Naturales, C.S.I.C. J. Gutierrez Abascal 2, E-28006 Madrid, Spain
ABSTRACT
Males of the black wheatear (Oenanthe leucura) carry on average almost 2 kg of stones to cavities inside caves before the laying of each clutch, a display involved in postmating sexual selection as determined from female adjustment of timing and rate of reproduction to experimentally manipulated numbers of stones carried. A large wing area in relation to body mass would allow males to carry many and heavy stones. The number and mass of stones carried were inversely related to wing loading, suggesting that a large wing area has evolved as an adaptation to stone carrying. We tested this functional hypothesis in a field experiment with three treatments: (1) two primaries removed from each wing (manipulation), (2) the tips of two primaries removed from each wing (sham-manipulation), and (3) the male just captured and handled (control). The number and mass of stones carried were inversely related to original wing area, as predicted by the hypothesis, and males with initially large wing areas were better able to cope with the experimental treatment than others. These results are consistent with stone carrying being a reliable signal of maximum working ability of males during short bursts of stone carrying, and intraspecific differences in wing morphology therefore allow males to display at different levels.
Key words: black wheatear, morphological adaptations, Oenanthe, Oenanthe leucura, reliable signaling, sexual display, stone carrying. [Behav Ecol 6:368–375 (1995)].
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