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A comparison of the alarm calls of five species of African lovebirds: genus Agapornis

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 69; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0035919x.2014.890140

2154-0098

Shernice Soobramoney, M.R. Perrin,

Marine animal studies overview

We compared the bioacoustic structure of the alarm calls of five species of African lovebirds, genus Agapornis (A. roseicollis, A. lilianae, A. nigrigenis, A. personatus and A. fischeri). The calls were analysed for interspecific and gender differences. The calls comprised a series of rapidly-repeated elements composed of several harmonics. The eleven temporal and sound frequency parameters showed significant differences among the species and between the sexes. Principal components and cluster analyses demonstrated that species belonging to the same taxon grouped together by their call characters. The alarm calls differed between species and were used to construct an acoustic phylogeny that matched the accepted genetic and morphological phylogenies. Agapornis roseicollis is a close relative of the white-eye-ring species, with lilianae–nigrigenis and personatus–fischeri clustering together as sibling species, as proposed by genetic, morphological and behavioural characteristics. Reversed sex differences in call parameters were associated with reversed body size differences between the sexes.