title: The evolution of mimicry of friarbirds by orioles (Aves: Passeriformes) in Australo-Pacific archipelagos.
abstract: Observations by Alfred Wallace and Jared Diamond of plumage similarities between co-occurring orioles (Oriolus) and friarbirds (Philemon) in the Malay archipelago led them to conclude that the former represent visual mimics of the latter. Here, we use molecular phylogenies and plumage reflectance measurements to test several key predictions of the mimicry hypothesis. We show that friarbirds originated before brown orioles, that the two groups did not co-speciate, although there is one plausible instance of co-speciation among species on the neighbouring Moluccan islands of Buru and Seram. Furthermore, we show that greater size disparity between model and mimic and a longer history of co-occurrence have resulted in a stronger plumage similarity (mimicry). This suggests that resemblance between orioles and friarbirds represents mimicry and that colonization of islands by brown orioles has been facilitated by their ability to mimic the aggressive friarbirds.
authors.affiliation: Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK kajonsson@snm.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Knud Andreas
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Jønsson
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Clayton, 3800 Victoria, Australia Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.
authors.forename: Kaspar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Delhey
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm 10405, Sweden Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm 10405, Sweden.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sangster
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm 10405, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per G P
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Ericson
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm 10405, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irestedt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000067558:Biological Mimicry; D005241:Feathers / Q000502:physiology*; D007214:Indonesia; D062312:Islands; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: Australo-Papua; coexistence; community assembly; competition; island biogeography; molecular phylogeny