@article{26f465d208bf4504974ccf4a17d4d472,
title = "Multimodal mimicry of hosts in a radiation of parasitic finches*",
abstract = "Brood parasites use the parental care of others to raise their young and sometimes employ mimicry to dupe their hosts. The brood-parasitic finches of the genus Vidua are a textbook example of the role of imprinting in sympatric speciation. Sympatric speciation is thought to occur in Vidua because their mating traits and host preferences are strongly influenced by their early host environment. However, this alone may not be sufficient to isolate parasite lineages, and divergent ecological adaptations may also be required to prevent hybridization collapsing incipient species. Using pattern recognition software and classification models, we provide quantitative evidence that Vidua exhibit specialist mimicry of their grassfinch hosts, matching the patterns, colors and sounds of their respective host's nestlings. We also provide qualitative evidence of mimicry in postural components of Vidua begging. Quantitative comparisons reveal small discrepancies between parasite and host phenotypes, with parasites sometimes exaggerating their host's traits. Our results support the hypothesis that behavioral imprinting on hosts has not only enabled the origin of new Vidua species, but also set the stage for the evolution of host-specific, ecological adaptations.",
keywords = "Imprinting, mimicry, parasite-host interactions, speciation",
author = "Jamie, {Gabriel A.} and {Van Belleghem}, {Steven M.} and Hogan, {Benedict G.} and Silky Hamama and Collins Moya and Jolyon Troscianko and Stoddard, {Mary Caswell} and Kilner, {Rebecca M.} and Spottiswoode, {Claire N.}",
note = "Funding Information: GAJ was funded by a Research Project Grant from The Leverhulme Trust, awarded to CNS and RMK. RMK was supported by a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award. CNS was supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship and a BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellowship (BB/J014109/1). JT was supported by a NERC Independent Research Fellowship (NE/P018084/1). We thank the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in Zambia for support and permits, Lackson Chama, Moses Chibesa, and Stanford Siachoono at the Copperbelt University for support, Richard and Vicki Duckett, Troy and Elizabeth Nicolle, and Ian and Emma Bruce‐Miller for permission to work on their farms, and Molly and Archie Greenshields for providing us a home during the fieldwork. We thank the many people who helped us find nests in Zambia, particularly Lazaro Hamusikili, Tom Hamusikili, Sanigo Mwanza, Sylvester Mukonko, and Calisto Shankwasiya. We thank Peter Lawrence for commenting on an earlier version of this manuscript, and Rose Thorogood and Nick Davies for helpful discussions. We thank Michael Kopp, Maria Servedio, and three anonymous reviewers for detailed feedback and constructive suggestions that greatly helped to improve the manuscript's contents. We are grateful to Faansie Peacock for allowing us to use his drawings from “Faansie's Bird Book” to illustrate Fig. 2 . Funding Information: GAJ was funded by a Research Project Grant from The Leverhulme Trust, awarded to CNS and RMK. RMK was supported by a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award. CNS was supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship and a BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellowship (BB/J014109/1). JT was supported by a NERC Independent Research Fellowship (NE/P018084/1). We thank the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in Zambia for support and permits, Lackson Chama, Moses Chibesa, and Stanford Siachoono at the Copperbelt University for support, Richard and Vicki Duckett, Troy and Elizabeth Nicolle, and Ian and Emma Bruce-Miller for permission to work on their farms, and Molly and Archie Greenshields for providing us a home during the fieldwork. We thank the many people who helped us find nests in Zambia, particularly Lazaro Hamusikili, Tom Hamusikili, Sanigo Mwanza, Sylvester Mukonko, and Calisto Shankwasiya. We thank Peter Lawrence for commenting on an earlier version of this manuscript, and Rose Thorogood and Nick Davies for helpful discussions. We thank Michael Kopp, Maria Servedio, and three anonymous reviewers for detailed feedback and constructive suggestions that greatly helped to improve the manuscript's contents. We are grateful to Faansie Peacock for allowing us to use his drawings from ?Faansie's Bird Book? to illustrate Fig.?2. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution",
year = "2020",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1111/evo.14057",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "74",
pages = "2526--2538",
journal = "Evolution; international journal of organic evolution",
issn = "0014-3820",
publisher = "Society for the Study of Evolution",
number = "11",
}