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Length of tail streamers in barn swallows

Nature volume 397, pages 115–116 (1999)Cite this article

Evans replies

I have demonstrated that the tail streamers of male swallows are mainly the product of natural selection, although I suggested that sexual selection may have extended the streamer by less than the length the birds’ tails were shortened in my experiments (20 mm)1. My objective was to test whether tail streamers evolved as a result of sexual selection or of natural selection. Over the past eleven years, Møller and co-workers have shown that males with longer tails have many mating advantages2. They conclude that “tail ornaments in the monogamous swallow have evolved as a result of female choice”3.

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References

  1. Evans, M. R. Nature 394, 233–234 (1998).

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  2. Møller, A. P. Sexual Selection and the Barn Swallow (Oxford Univ. Press, 1994).

  3. Møller, A. P. Nature 332, 640–642 (1988)

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  4. Cuervo, J. J., de Lope, F. & Møller, A. P. Behav. Ecol. 7, 132–136 (1996).

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  5. Evans, M. R. & Thomas, A. L. R. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 211–217 (1997).

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  6. Buchanan, K. L. & Evans, M. R. Behav. Ecol.(submitted).

  7. Rowe, L. V., Buchanan, K. L. & Evans, M. R. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (submitted).

  8. Evans, M. R., Buchanan, K. L. & Rowe, L. V. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA(submitted).

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK

    Matthew R. Evans

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  1. Matthew R. Evans
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Evans, M. Length of tail streamers in barn swallows. Nature 397, 115–116 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/16374

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