Occurrence and persistence of pseudo‐tail spots in the barn swallow
Masaru Hasegawa
Abstract:While numerous studies have confirmed sexual selection for ornamental traits in animals, it remains unclear about how animals exaggerate ornamentation across traits. I found that some Asian barn swallows Hirundo rustica gutturalis possessed “pseudo‐tail spots” on their undertail coverts adjacent to a well‐known sexual signal, the white tail spots. A close inspection showed their remarkable resemblance, and, as a consequence, pseudo‐tail spots appear to add white spots to the uniformly black central tail feathe… Show more
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