TY - JOUR A1 - Nagel, Rebecca A1 - Kirschbaum, Frank A1 - Hofmann, Volker A1 - Engelmann, Jacob A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - Electric pulse characteristics can enable species recognition in African weakly electric fish species JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Communication is key to a wide variety of animal behaviours and multiple modalities are often involved in this exchange of information from sender to receiver. The communication of African weakly electric fish, however, is thought to be predominantly unimodal and is mediated by their electric sense, in which species-specific electric organ discharges (EODs) are generated in a context-dependent and thus variable sequence of pulse intervals (SPI). While the primary function of the electric sense is considered to be electrolocation, both of its components likely carry information regarding identity of the sender. However, a clear understanding of their contribution to species recognition is incomplete. We therefore analysed these two electrocommunication components (EOD waveform and SPI statistics) in two sympatric mormyrid Campylomormyrus species. In a set of five playback conditions, we further investigated which components may drive interspecific recognition and discrimination. While we found that both electrocommunication components are species-specific, the cues necessary for species recognition differ between the two species studied. While the EOD waveform and SPI were both necessary and sufficient for species recognition in C. compressirostris males, C. tamandua males apparently utilize other, non-electric modalities. Mapped onto a recent phylogeny, our results suggest that discrimination by electric cues alone may be an apomorphic trait evolved during a recent radiation in this taxon. KW - Dwelling Atlantic Mollies KW - Organ Discharge Patterns KW - Mormyrid Fish KW - Pollimyrus-Isidori KW - Acoustic-Signals KW - Sexual Selection KW - Phylogenetic-Relationships KW - Hypopomus-Occidentalis KW - Convergent Evolution KW - Poecili-Mexicana Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29132-z SN - 2045-2322 VL - 8 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Nagel, Rebecca A1 - Kirschbaum, Frank A1 - Hofmann, Volker A1 - Engelmann, Jacob A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - Electric pulse characteristics can enable species recognition in African weakly electric fish species T2 - Scientific Reports N2 - Communication is key to a wide variety of animal behaviours and multiple modalities are often involved in this exchange of information from sender to receiver. The communication of African weakly electric fish, however, is thought to be predominantly unimodal and is mediated by their electric sense, in which species-specific electric organ discharges (EODs) are generated in a context-dependent and thus variable sequence of pulse intervals (SPI). While the primary function of the electric sense is considered to be electrolocation, both of its components likely carry information regarding identity of the sender. However, a clear understanding of their contribution to species recognition is incomplete. We therefore analysed these two electrocommunication components (EOD waveform and SPI statistics) in two sympatric mormyrid Campylomormyrus species. In a set of five playback conditions, we further investigated which components may drive interspecific recognition and discrimination. While we found that both electrocommunication components are species-specific, the cues necessary for species recognition differ between the two species studied. While the EOD waveform and SPI were both necessary and sufficient for species recognition in C. compressirostris males, C. tamandua males apparently utilize other, non-electric modalities. Mapped onto a recent phylogeny, our results suggest that discrimination by electric cues alone may be an apomorphic trait evolved during a recent radiation in this taxon. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 470 KW - Dwelling Atlantic Mollies KW - Organ Discharge Patterns KW - Mormyrid Fish KW - Pollimyrus-Isidori KW - Acoustic-Signals KW - Sexual Selection KW - Phylogenetic-Relationships KW - Hypopomus-Occidentalis KW - Convergent Evolution KW - Poecili-Mexicana Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-417577 ER -