Animal vocalizations play an important role in individual recognition, kin recognition, species recognition, and sexual selection.Despite much work in these fields done on birds virtually nothing is known about the heritability of vocal traits in birds. Here, we study a captive population of more than 800 zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) with regard to the quantitative genetics of call and song characteristics. We find very high heritabilities in nonlearned female call traits and considerably lower heritabilities Animal vocalizations can function as cues for the recognition of particular individuals, kin versus nonkin, or conspecifics versus heterospecifics. Moreover, vocalizations often play a major role in male-male competition and female choice. To fully understand the function and evolutionary implications of vocalizations in each of these contexts, it is important to know the sources of variation in vocal traits. However, the quantitative genetics of vocal traits have been studied only in a few taxa, predominantly in insects (Butlin and
The adipokinetic hormone (AKH) of the large milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus is isolated from an acidified methanolic extract of 200 corpora cardiaca, purified by single step reversed phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and N‐terminally deblocked using pyroglutamate aminopeptidase. The sequence is identified by Edman degradation and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time of flight mass spectroscopy as pGlu‐Leu‐Asn‐Phe‐Ser‐Pro‐Asn‐Trp amide. This structure is confirmed by chemical synthesis and coelution of native and synthetic peptide on HPLC. The AKH of O. fasciatus is identical to Tenmo‐HrTH, a member of the adipokinetic/red pigment‐concentrating hormone peptide family that had been isolated earlier from several tenebrionid beetles. Tenmo‐HrTH causes a significant rise in the concentration of haemolymph lipids when injected into adult male and female O. fasciatus, but displays no hyperglycaemic activity. There is no indication of the presence of other AKHs in O. fasciatus. The large milkweed bug represents the first member of the seed bugs (Lygaeidae) for which the endogenous AKH has been identified.
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