Honeyguide

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Honeyguide
IndicatorProdotiscusKeulemans.jpg
Greater honeyguide and
brown-backed honeybird
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Suborder: Pici
Infraorder: Picides
Family: Indicatoridae
Swainson, 1837
Genera

Honeyguides (family Indicatoridae) are a family of birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus Prodotiscus . They have an Old World tropical distribution, with the greatest number of species in Africa and two in Asia. 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 not honey badgers [1] ) directly to bee colonies, so that they can feast on the grubs and beeswax that are left behind.

Contents

Taxonomy

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] The phylogenetic relationship 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 by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). [5]

Piciformes

Galbulidae – jacamars (18 species)

Bucconidae – puffbirds (38 species)

Indicatoridae – honeyguides (16 species)

Picidae – woodpeckers (240 species)

Megalaimidae – Asian barbets (35 species)

Lybiidae – African barbets (42 species)

Capitonidae – New World barbets (15 species)

Semnornithidae – toucan barbets (2 species)

Ramphastidae – toucans (43 species)

Description

Brown-backed honeybird juvenile fed by host parent, a rock-loving cisticola Wahlberg's Honeyguide (Prodotiscus regulus) - Juvenile fed by host parent Rock-loving Cisticola.jpg
Brown-backed honeybird juvenile fed by host parent, a rock-loving cisticola

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 the green-backed honeyguide, at an average of 10.2 g (0.36 oz), and by length appears to be the Cassin's honeyguide, at an average of 10 cm (3.9 in), while the largest species by weight is the lyre-tailed honeyguide, at 54.2 g (1.91 oz), and by length, is the greater honeyguide, at 19.5 cm (7.7 in). [6] [7] [8]

They are among the few birds that feed regularly on wax beeswax in most species, and presumably the waxy secretions of scale insects in the genus Prodotiscus and to a lesser extent in Melignomon and the smaller species of Indicator . They also feed on waxworms which are the larvae of the waxmoth Galleria mellonella, on bee colonies, and on flying and crawling insects, spiders, and occasional fruits. Many species join mixed-species feeding flocks.

Behavior

Guiding

Honeyguides are named for a remarkable habit seen in one or two species: guiding humans to bee colonies. Once the hive is open and the honey is taken, the bird feeds on larvae and wax. This behavior has been studied in the greater honeyguide; some authorities (following Friedmann, 1955) state that it also occurs in the scaly-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 northern Tanzania, honeyguides partner with Hadza hunter-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 ancestor Homo erectus , about 1.9 million years ago. [11] [10] Despite popular belief,[ citation needed ] no evidence indicates that honeyguides guide the honey 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

The breeding behavior of eight species in Indicator and Prodotiscus is known. They are all brood parasites that lay one egg in 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 related barbets and woodpeckers, but Prodotiscus parasitizes cup-nesters such as white-eyes and warblers. Honeyguide nestlings have been known to physically eject their hosts' chicks from the nests and they have needle-sharp hooks on their beaks with 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 as cuckoo hatchlings 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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bee-eater</span> Widespread group of insectivorous bird species in the family Meropidae

The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty-one species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long down-turned bills and medium to long wings, which may be pointed or round. Male and female plumages are usually similar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodpecker</span> Family of birds (Picidae)

Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piciformes</span> Order of birds

Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of which the Picidae make up about half.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New World barbet</span> Near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes

The New World barbets are a family, Capitonidae, of 15 birds in the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-throated wryneck</span> Species of bird from sub-Saharan Africa

The red-throated wryneck, also known as the rufous-necked wryneck or red-breasted wryneck, is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family closely related to the Eurasian wryneck. Its three subspecies are resident in much of sub-Saharan Africa in open habitats with some trees. It is a slim, elongated bird about 19 cm (7.5 in) in length, with a small head, fine bill, long fan-shaped tail and cryptic plumage intricately patterned in greys and browns. The sexes look similar, although males are slightly larger. The diet of the adults and young is almost entirely ants at all stages of their life cycles. The call of the red-throated wryneck is a series of repeated harsh, shrill notes. When threatened, a bird will twist its neck and head in a snake-like manner while making a hissing sound, presumably to deter predators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater honeyguide</span> Species of bird

The greater honeyguide is a bird in the family Indicatoridae, paleotropical near passerine birds related to the woodpeckers. Its English and scientific names refer to its habit of guiding people to bee colonies. Claims that it also guides non-human animals are disputed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brood parasitism</span> Animal reliance on other individuals to raise its young

Brood parasitism is a subclass of parasitism and phenomenon and behavioural pattern of animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The strategy involves a form of aggressive mimicry called Kirbyan mimicry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-rumped honeyguide</span> Species of bird

The yellow-rumped honeyguide is a sparrow-sized bird in the honeyguide family that is found in Asia, mainly in montane forests along the Himalayas. They are very finch-like but the feet are strong and zygodactyl, with two toes facing forward and two backward. They perch on honeycombs and feed on wax. Males tend to be territorial and stay near honeycombs while females and juveniles forage widely. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of tree-hole breeders, possibly barbets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megalaimidae</span> Family of birds

Megalaimidae, the Asian barbets, are a family of birds, comprising two genera with 35 species native to the forests of the Indomalayan realm from Tibet to Indonesia. They were once clubbed with all barbets in the family Capitonidae but the Old World species have been found to be distinctive and are considered, along with the Lybiidae and Ramphastidae, as sister groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Striped kingfisher</span> Species of bird

The striped kingfisher is a species of bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily. It was first described by Edward, Lord Stanley, in Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia in 1814 as "Chelicut kingfisher" Alaudo Chelicuti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Least honeyguide</span> Species of bird

The least honeyguide is a small species of bird in the family Indicatoridae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser honeyguide</span> Species of bird

The lesser honeyguide is a species of bird in the family Indicatoridae. Like other honeyguides, it is a brood parasite that lays eggs most commonly in the nests of African barbets, but will also occasionally use the nests of other birds as well, such as starlings and woodpeckers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaly-throated honeyguide</span> Species of bird

The scaly-throated honeyguide is a species of bird in the family Indicatoridae. They have a mutualistic relationship with humans in which they attract beekeepers towards bees' nests and then feeding on the remains, especially larvae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-crowned barbet</span> Species of bird

The red-crowned barbet is part of one of the two subfamilies of Megalaimidae birds. it is in the order of woodpeckers (Piciformes) and their relatives. It is distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and plantations with a distribution area of 3,180,000 km2 (1,230,000 sq mi).

<i>Indicator</i> (genus) Genus of near passerine birds in the honeyguide family

Indicator is a genus of near passerine birds in the honeyguide family. The name refers to the behaviour of some species, notably the greater honeyguide, which guide humans to bee colonies so that they can share in the spoils of wax and insects when the nest is broken into.

Lester Leroy Short is an American ornithologist. His main research field is the order Piciformes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toucan</span> Family of birds

Toucans are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and over 40 different species.

Jennifer Felicity Mary Horne also known as Jenny Horne or after her marriage as Jennifer Horne-Short, was a Kenyan ornithologist and bioacoustician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picides</span> Infraorder of birds

Picides is an infraorder of the order Piciformes that includes woodpeckers and honeyguides. The honeyguides were thought to be closely related to the barbets, as their aerial displays and vocalizations are more similar to each other than either are to woodpeckers. However, phylogenetic analysis has shown that honeyguides and woodpeckers are indeed sister taxa.

References

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  2. 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.
  3. 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 .
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  10. 1 2 3 Wood, 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. ISSN   1090-5138.
  11. Wrangham, Richard (2011). Honey and fire in human evolution. Oxbow Books. pp. 149–167.
  12. 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.
  13. Yong, Ed (September 19, 2011). "Lies, damned lies, and honey badgers". Kalmbach. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
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