Reproductive aspects of the Purple-throated Euphonia, Euphonia chlorotica (Aves: Fringillidae) in southeastern Brazil, and first record of the species nesting inside a vespiary

Despite the fact that E. chlorotica (Linnaeus, 1766) is common and widely distributed in South America, the reproductive aspects of the species are poorly documented. Here we present data on 18 active nests found from August to February, between 2007 and 2012. Nests were globular with a lateral entrance, and measured 97.9 ± 14.4 mm in outside height, 110.6 ± 11.6 mm in outside diameter, and were 4.88 ± 2.09 m above ground. They were often supported from bellow and were composed mainly of tiny dry leafs and leaflets, fine petioles, and plumed seeds, all compacted with spider web silk. Eggs were laid on consecutive days or with one day interval, and clutch size varied from 1–3 eggs (2.1 ± 0.6, n = 9 nests). Only females incubated the eggs, but both sexes were involved in nest construction and nestling attendance at similar rates. Incubation and nestling periods were 14 and 21 days, respectively, and overall nest survival probability was 5%. A vespiary used for nesting was not occupied by wasps and nest material was deposited only to form the incubatory chamber. Although nesting near wasps or bees is a widespread strategy among birds in general, nesting inside the nests of social insects is a poorly documented behavior

Recovering the Genetic Identity of an Extinct-in-the-Wild Species: The Puzzling Case of the Alagoas Curassow

<div><p>The conservation of many endangered taxa relies on hybrid identification, and when hybrids become morphologically indistinguishable from the parental species, the use of molecular markers can assign individual admixture levels. Here, we present the puzzling case of the extinct in the wild Alagoas Curassow (<i>Pauxi mitu</i>), whose captive population descends from only three individuals. Hybridization with the Razor-billed Curassow (<i>P</i>. <i>tuberosa</i>) began more than eight generations ago, and admixture uncertainty affects the whole population. We applied an analysis framework that combined morphological diagnostic traits, Bayesian clustering analyses using 14 microsatellite loci, and mtDNA haplotypes to assess the ancestry of all individuals that were alive from 2008 to 2012. Simulated data revealed that our microsatellites could accurately assign an individual a hybrid origin until the second backcross generation, which permitted us to identify a pure group among the older, but still reproductive animals. No wild species has ever survived such a severe bottleneck, followed by hybridization, and studying the recovery capability of the selected pure Alagoas Curassow group might provide valuable insights into biological conservation theory.</p></div

Median Joining network based on 311 bp of the mtDNA control region for 11 Razor-billed Curassows (left circle), and for 72 animals assigned to Alagoas Curassow based on the stringent analyses and Structure analyses using 98% threshold (right circle), with circle sizes reflecting the numbers of individuals.

<p>Green and red colors represent Alagoas and Razor-billed Curassow haplotypes, respectively, indicating Razor-billed maternal ancestry for six individuals assigned to Alagoas Curassow based on morphology and microsatellites. Hatches represent unobserved haplotypes.</p

Numbers of Razor-billed Curassows (<i>Pauxi tuberosa</i>), and of animals assigned to the Alagoas Curassow (<i>P</i>. <i>mitu</i>) based on morphology and microsatellite analyses, presenting each of two mtDNA control region haplotypes.

<p>Vertical numbers correspond to positions in the sequences deposited in GenBank (accession numbers KU170649 and KU170650) containing diagnostic variations.</p

Proportional membership of potential Alagoas Curassows (<i>Pauxi mitu</i>), and Razor-billed Curassows (<i>P</i>. <i>tuberosa</i>) obtained with 14 microsatellite loci.

<p><b>(A)</b> First stringent analysis performed in NewHybrids. <b>(B)</b> First stringent analysis performed in Structure.</p

Bayesian analyses with 100 simulated genotypes of each parental and hybrid class, indicating the percentages of simulated individuals correctly assigned as parental or hybrid, independently of hybrid class attribution for both Structure and NewHybrids.

<p>In Structure analyses, potential threshold effect was evaluated using 95, 98 and 99% threshold levels, using K = 2. In NewHybrids, modeling effect was assessed by testing different combinations of Jeffreys (Jef), and Uniform (Un) priors.</p

Factorial Correspondence Analysis using 14 microsatellite loci.

<p>General overview of the genetic relationships among Razor-billed Curassows (red); individuals assigned to Alagoas Curassow based on morphology, microsatellites, and mtDNA (green); individuals assigned to Alagoas Curassow based on morphology and microsatellites, but excluded by mtDNA analysis (purple); individuals pointed out as admixted by microsatellites, using Structure 98% threshold (yellow), and individuals assigned as hybrids based on morphology (blue).</p