No fitness benefits of early molt in a fairy-wren: relaxed sexual selection under genetic monogamy?

Marie Fan, Michelle L. Hall, Sjouke A. Kingma, Lisa M. Mandeltort, Nataly Hidalgo Aranzamendi, Kaspar Delhey and Anne Peters

Behavioral Ecology, 2017, vol. 28, issue 4, 1055-1067

Abstract: Lay SummaryExtravagant seasonal male ornaments are assumed to be sexually attractive. Fairy-wrens are a well-known example, where females cheat on their mates by copulating with attractive males that produce ornamental plumage early in the year. Purple-crowned fairy-wrens lack this extreme infidelity, but males do produce a conspicuous breeding plumage at highly variable times. However, this does not appear to bring any fitness benefits or costs, and the stunning purple crown might disappear over (evolutionary) time.Twitter: @colourfulmarie

Keywords: evolutionary trait loss; extra-pair paternity; monogamy; pre-breeding molt timing; relaxed sexual selection; seasonal breeding plumage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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