Extra-pair paternity in Short-toed and Lesser Short-toed Larks Calandrella brachydactyla and C. rufescens

Capsule DNA fingerprinting suggests that extra-pair paternity may be frequent among larks. Extra-pair paternity is widespread in passerines, even in species traditionally considered to be strictly monogamous (Birkhead & Møller 1998), though it remains unreported or not quantified in some taxa. L...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ana M. Sánchez, Jesús Herranz, Juan Gabriel Martínez, Francisco Suárez
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
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Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.383.7664
http://www.escet.urjc.es/biodiversos/publica/Sanchez_et_al_2004_Bird_Study.pdf
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Summary:Capsule DNA fingerprinting suggests that extra-pair paternity may be frequent among larks. Extra-pair paternity is widespread in passerines, even in species traditionally considered to be strictly monogamous (Birkhead & Møller 1998), though it remains unreported or not quantified in some taxa. Larks (Alaudidae), a ‘primitive ’ passerine family with over 100 species, are considered monogamous (Dean et al. 1992, Cramp 1998) as most are territorial and many show a semi-colonial nesting behaviour (i.e. the species of the genera Eremopterix and Chersophilus, and some species of Melanocorhypha, Calandrella, Eremophila and Spyzocorys; De Juana et al. in press). A few species present a non-aggregated spatial distribution of nests: