Honeyguide
| Honeyguide | |
|---|---|
| |
| Greater honeyguideand brown-backed honeybird | |
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Suborder: | Pici |
| Infraorder: | Picides |
| Family: | Indicatoridae Swainson,1837 |
| Genera | |
Honeyguides(familyIndicatoridae) are a family birds in the orderPiciformes.They are also known asindicator birds,orhoney birds,although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genusProdotiscus.They have anOld Worldtropical distribution, with the greatest number of species inAfricaand two inAsia.These birds are best known for their interaction with humans. Honeyguides are noted and named for one or two species that will deliberately lead humans (but, contrary to popular claims, most likely nothoney badgers[1]) directly to bee colonies, so that they can feast on the grubs andbeeswaxthat are left behind.
Taxonomy
[edit]The Indicatoridae were noted for their barbet-like structure and brood-parasitic behavior and morphologically considered unique among the non-passerines in having nine primaries.[2]Thephylogeneticrelationship between the honeyguides and the eight other families that make up the order Piciformes is shown in the cladogram below.[3][4]The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained byFrank Gill,Pamela C. Rasmussenand David Donsker on behalf of theInternational Ornithological Committee(IOC).[5]
| Piciformes |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Description
[edit]
Most honeyguides are dull-colored, though some have bright yellow coloring in the plumage. All have light outer tail feathers, which are white in all the African species. The smallest species by body mass appears to be thegreen-backed honeyguide,at an average of 10.2 g (0.36 oz), and by length appears to be theCassin's honeyguide,at an average of 10 cm (3.9 in), while the largest species by weight is thelyre-tailed honeyguide,at 54.2 g (1.91 oz), and by length, is thegreater honeyguide,at 19.5 cm (7.7 in).[6][7][8]
They are among the few birds that feed regularly onwax—beeswaxin most species, and presumably the waxy secretions ofscale insectsin the genusProdotiscusand to a lesser extent inMelignomonand the smaller species ofIndicator.They also feed onwaxwormswhich are the larvae of the waxmothGalleria mellonella,onbeecolonies, and on flying and crawling insects,spiders,and occasional fruits. Many species joinmixed-species feeding flocks.
Behavior
[edit]Guiding
[edit]Honeyguides are named for a remarkable habit seen in one or two species: guiding humans tobee colonies.Once the hive is open and the honey is taken, the bird feeds on larvae and wax. This behavior has been studied in thegreater honeyguide;some authorities (following Friedmann, 1955) state that it also occurs in thescaly-throated honeyguide,while others disagree.[6]Wild honeyguides understand various types of human calls that attract them to engage in the foraging mutualism.[9]In northernTanzania,honeyguides partner withHadzahunter-gatherers, and the bird assistance has been shown to increase honey-hunters' rates of finding bee colonies by 560%, and led men to significantly higher yielding nests than those found without honeyguides.[10]Contrary to most depictions of the human-honeyguide relationship, the Hadza did not actively repay honeyguides, but instead, hid, buried, and burned honeycomb, with the intent of keeping the bird hungry and thus more likely to guide again.[10]Some experts believe that honeyguide co-evolution with humans goes back to the stone-tool making human ancestorHomo erectus,about 1.9million years ago.[11][10]Despite popular belief, no evidence indicates that honeyguides guide thehoney badger;though videos about this exist, there have been accusations that they were staged.[12][13]
Although most members of the family are not known to recruit "followers" in their quest for wax, they are also referred to as "honeyguides" by linguistic extrapolation.
Breeding
[edit]The breeding behavior of eight species inIndicatorandProdotiscusis known. They are allbrood parasitesthat lay oneeggin a nest of another species, laying eggs in series of about five during a period of 5–7 days. Most favor hole-nesting species, often the relatedbarbetsandwoodpeckers,butProdotiscusparasitizescup-nesterssuch aswhite-eyesandwarblers.Honeyguide nestlings have been known to physically eject their hosts' chicks from the nests and they have needle-sharp hooks on theirbeakswith which they puncture the hosts' eggs or kill the nestlings.[14]
African honeyguide birds are known to lay their eggs in underground nests of other bee-eating bird species. The honeyguide chicks kill the hatchlings of the host using their needle-sharp beaks just after hatching, much ascuckoohatchlings do. The honeyguide mother ensures her chick hatches first by internally incubating the egg for an extra day before laying it, so that it has a head start in development compared to the hosts' offspring.[15]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^van der Wal, J. E. M.; et al. (2023)."Do honey badgers and greater honeyguide birds cooperate to access bees' nests? Ecological evidence and honey-hunter accounts".Journal of Zoology.1(a) – via Zoological Society of London.
- ^Austin, Oliver Luther (1962).Birds of the world: a survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families.Hamlyn. p. 186.
- ^Kuhl, H.; Frankl-Vilches, C.; Bakker, A.; Mayr, G.; Nikolaus, G.; Boerno, S.T.; Klages, S.; Timmermann, B.; Gahr, M. (2021)."An unbiased molecular approach using 3′-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life".Molecular Biology and Evolution.38(1): 108–127.doi:10.1093/molbev/msaa191.hdl:21.11116/0000-0007-B72A-C.
- ^Stiller, J.; et al. (2024)."Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes".Nature.629:851–860.doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1.PMC11111414.
- ^Gill, Frank;Donsker, David;Rasmussen, Pamela,eds. (December 2023)."IOC World Bird List Version 14.1".International Ornithologists' Union.Retrieved17 June2024.
- ^abShort, L.L. and J. F. M. Horne (2020).Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator),version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.
- ^Short, L.L., J. F. M. Horne, and G. M. Kirwan (2020).Cassin's Honeyguide (Prodotiscus insignis),version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.
- ^Dunning, John B. Jr., ed. (2008).CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses(2nd ed.). CRC Press.ISBN978-1-4200-6444-5.
- ^Spottiswoode, Claire N.; Begg, Keith S.; Begg, Colleen M. (July 22, 2016)."Reciprocal signaling in honeyguide-human mutualism".Science.353(6297): 387–389.Bibcode:2016Sci...353..387S.doi:10.1126/science.aaf4885.PMID27463674.S2CID206648494.
- ^abcWood, Brian M.; Pontzer, Herman; Raichlen, David A.; Marlowe, Frank W. (2014-11-01)."Mutualism and manipulation in Hadza–honeyguide interactions".Evolution and Human Behavior.35(6): 540–546.doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.07.007.ISSN1090-5138.
- ^Wrangham, Richard (2011).Honey and fire in human evolution.Oxbow Books. pp. 149–167.
- ^Dean, W. R. J.; Siegfried, W. Roy; MacDonald, I. A. W. (1 March 1990). "The Fallacy, Fact, and Fate of Guiding Behavior in the Greater Honeyguide".Conservation Biology.4(1): 99–101.Bibcode:1990ConBi...4...99D.doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00272.x.
- ^Yong, Ed (September 19, 2011)."Lies, damned lies, and honey badgers".Kalmbach.RetrievedJuly 8,2024.
- ^Short, Lester L. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph (ed.).Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds.London: Merehurst Press. p. 155.ISBN978-1-85391-186-6.
- ^Davies, Ella (7 September 2011)."Underground chick-killers filmed".BBCNature.
- Friedmann, Herbert (1955).The Honeyguides.U.S. National Museum (Bulletin 208).hdl:10088/10101.
- Short, Lester, andJennifer Horne(2002).Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-854666-5.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
[edit]
