Diversity of Nuptial Plumages in Male Ruffs Philomachus pugnax

[摘要] Nuptialornamentdiversitywasstudiedin1814individualmaleRuffsthatwerecaughtintheirspringstagingareasinFriesland,TheNetherlands.Ornaments(hereaftercalledplumages)comprisedofaruff,twoheadtuftsandfacialwattles.Individualfeatherswerefoundtobeplain(white,blackoronehue),orpatternedwithblackandonlyonehue.Patternsoffeathersvariedmodestlywithinmales,andgreatlybetweenmales.Thecolourofamale'sruffplusheadtuftsconsistedofblackand/orwhiteand/oronlyoneotherhue.Ruff,headtuftsandfacialwattlesdifferedIncolorationandpatternbetweenindividuals.Usingsevencriteriawecounted801differentplumagevariants.Nevertheless,exceptforwattlecolour,characteristicsdidnotcombineatrandom.Somecombinationsofcharacteristics,suchasawhiteruffwithwhiteheadtufts,occurredmuchmoreoftenthanexpectedbychance.Othercombinations,suchasawhiteruffwithblackheadtufts,ablackruffwithwhiteheadtufts,andaregularruffpatternwithanIrregularpattern,wererare.Mostlytherewasconformitybetweenruffandheadtufts:theywereidenticalorhadreversedprimaryandsecondarycolours.Nuptialplumagecharacteristicswereonlyweaklyassociatedwithbodysize.Someassociationsbetweennuptialplumageandthetimingofmoultwereremarkable:onlywhitemalesandmaleswithaplainruffpatterntendedtohavecompletedmoultbythetimeoftheircaptureInApril.Wediscussourfindings,includingtheextremediversityofnuptialplumagesamongindividuals,Inthelightofdevelopment,geneticsandfunction.

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] Lek Breeding