Sex Recognition by Electric Cues in a Sound-Producing Mormyrid Fish, Pollimyrus isidori (Part 2 of 2)

1991 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
John D. Crawford
2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1613) ◽  
pp. 1043-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darrell J Kemp

Butterflies are among nature's most colourful animals, and provide a living showcase for how extremely bright, chromatic and iridescent coloration can be generated by complex optical mechanisms. The gross characteristics of male butterfly colour patterns are understood to function for species and/or sex recognition, but it is not known whether female mate choice promotes visual exaggeration of this coloration. Here I show that females of the sexually dichromatic species Hypolimnas bolina prefer conspecific males that possess bright iridescent blue/ultraviolet dorsal ornamentation. In separate field and enclosure experiments, using both dramatic and graded wing colour manipulations, I demonstrate that a moderate qualitative reduction in signal brightness and chromaticity has the same consequences as removing the signal entirely. These findings validate a long-held hypothesis, and argue for the importance of intra- versus interspecific selection as the driving force behind the exaggeration of bright, iridescent butterfly colour patterns.


2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Alviña ◽  
Nathaniel B. Sawtell

Although it has been suggested that the cerebellum functions to predict the sensory consequences of motor commands, how such predictions are implemented in cerebellar circuitry remains largely unknown. A detailed and relatively complete account of predictive mechanisms has emerged from studies of cerebellum-like sensory structures in fish, suggesting that comparisons of the cerebellum and cerebellum-like structures may be useful. Here we characterize electrophysiological response properties of Purkinje cells in a region of the cerebellum proper of weakly electric mormyrid fish, the posterior caudal lobe (LCp), which receives the same mossy fiber inputs and projects to the same target structures as the electrosensory lobe (ELL), a well-studied cerebellum-like structure. We describe patterns of simple spike and climbing fiber activation in LCp Purkinje cells in response to motor corollary discharge, electrosensory, and proprioceptive inputs and provide evidence for two functionally distinct Purkinje cell subtypes within LCp. Protocols that induce rapid associative plasticity in ELL fail to induce plasticity in LCp, suggesting differences in the adaptive functions of the two structures. Similarities and differences between LCp and ELL are discussed in light of these results.


Plant Ecology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 215 (8) ◽  
pp. 845-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene A. Mercer ◽  
Sarah M. Eppley
Keyword(s):  

Behaviour ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 102 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 264-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudine TEYSSÈDRE ◽  
Michel Boudinot ◽  
Catherine Minisclou

AbstractInter-individual similarities in the electric organ discharge activity of immobile, isolated and undisturbed mormyrid fish were investigated. Two types of analysis were performed on the discharge patterns of 10 Gnathonemus petersii: (1) The Bout Interval Criterion method was used to categorise the intervals between consecutive electric pulses; (2) an analysis of sequences of acts was performed to study the serial ordering of the interpulse intervals. Interpulse intervals were demonstrated to belong to distinct classes, having similar limits for most animals. Most fish show five classes of interpulse intervals (23 to 68 ms; 69 to 108 ms; 109 to 170 ms; 171 to 212 ms; >212 ms), to which a sixth class (<23 ms) is added in some cases. Each class contains a similar number of intervals in all individuals. Particular associations were found between the occurrences of interpulse intervals belonging to different classes. Some of these associations (for example BB and EC) are displayed by most fish, whereas others express individual differences in the patterns of discharge. The discharge of immobile, undisturbed, isolated mormyrid fish is thus shown to present many similarities among individuals. Inter-individual differences exist only in the serial ordering of the intervals, where they arc best regarded as variations around a same theme. The absence of overlapping between the two main categories of interpulse intervals (category I: 69 to 108 ms; category II: 171 to 212 ms), as well as the constancy of their baselines, suggest that two oscillating systems participate to the electromotor command. The stochastic analysis of the serial ordering of the interpulse intervals suggest in addition that these two oscillators do not function independently. Momentaneous modifications of the activity of these two oscillators would provide an economical explanation for the various changes in the types of interpulse intervals associated with behavioural state or social interactions.


1981 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T.E. Finger ◽  
C.C. Bell ◽  
C.J. Russell
Keyword(s):  

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