Colour vision in sengis (Macroscelidea, Afrotheria, Mammalia): choice experiments indicate dichromatism

Thüs, Patricia; Lunau, Klaus; Wester, Petra

doi:10.1163/1568539x-bja10039

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Depending on which pollinator group H. hanekomii adapts evolutionary processes and plant traits are driven in one or the other direction. For example the wide colour spectrum (Figure 1, A & B) could increase if H. hanekomii further adapts to E. edwardii as a pollinator since they see dichromatic (Thüs et al , 2020) and cannot differentiate the red colour of the plants. The scent on the other hand could shift from being odourless to a nutty, buttery smell like found in other E. edwardii pollinated Hyobanche species (Wester, 2011) as the scent plays an important role to attract those animals to flowers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hyobanche hanekomii(Orobanchaceae) is pollinated by non-flying mammals and birds

Niedzwetzki-Taubert

2022

Preprint

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H. hanekomii was recently described as a new member of the genus Hyobanche inside the Orobanchaceae family. H. hanekomii is a small geoflorous holoparasitic plant, which often grows under shrubs and has red-flowered inflorescences, which do not emit a scent. The plant combines characteristics from bird- and mammal-pollinated plants. Until now it was uncertain if H. hanekomii is pollinated by birds or by non-flying mammals, since the species is showing an intermediate morphology when compared to H. atropurpurea (mammal pollinated) and H. sanguinea (bird pollinated). Elephantulus edwardii and Nectarinia famosa were observed foraging on H. hanekomii inflorescences indicating a mixed pollination syndrome or a transmission state between bird pollination to pollination by non-flying mammal. In this study I prove that E. edwardii and N. famosa are indeed pollinators of H. hanekomii. This was done by observing the interaction between different animal species and H. hanekomii inflorescences in their natural habitat by using camera traps and camcorders. It could be observed that E. edwardii licked nectar from flowers of H. hanekomii with its long tongue. The animals pressed their rostra deep into the flowers. While foraging on the flowers, it could be observed that pollen was placed onto the rostra of the animals. It was also observed, that the stigma of the flower touched the animals on the same spots where pollen was placed. To drink on the flowers, Nectarinia famosa inserted its beak into the flowers. While doing so, it was observed that pollen was placed on the beaks and that the stigma touched the animals. It is possible that both species transport pollen from one H. hanekomii flower to another while foraging on them, and that the pollen reaches the stigma of another flower. Because of this both species are considered as pollinators of H. hanekomii. E. edwardii was identified as the main pollinator of H. hanekomii as they visit the inflorescences frequently. N. famosa was detected as a secondary pollinator of H. hanekomii as they visit the flowers infrequently. This issue has to be examined further since the rarity of N. famosa visits could be influenced by different factors like removal of perching positions around the plants to have a better camera angel or by the cameras itself, so that N. famosa would visit the H. hanekomii inflorescences more often in an non altered surrounding. In addition UV photography and spectrometry revealed that no UV reflecting areas are present on the plants indicating adaption to non-flying mammal than bird pollination syndrome. The same counts for missing stinging hairs on the flowers. In contrary some of the important flower characteristics (Flower entrance width and height) are significant smaller than those of the non-flying mammal pollinated plant H. atropurpurea indicating a bird pollination syndrome.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hyobanche hanekomii(Orobanchaceae) is pollinated by non-flying mammals and birds

Niedzwetzki-Taubert

2022

Preprint

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Associative colour learning and discrimination in the South African Cape rock sengi Elephantulus edwardii (Macroscelidea, Afrotheria, Mammalia)

2022

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Beside insects, sengis also consume plant material such as leaves, fruits, seeds and floral nectar. It is known that they use olfaction for foraging, but little is known about their vision and visual learning capabilities. Colour vision has been tested in two species, showing that they are likely dichromats (green- and blue-sensitive retinal cone-photoreceptors, meaning red-green colour blind). Our aim was to examine the learning and colour discrimination abilities of another species, Elephantulus edwardii. Using training procedures and choice experiments, we tested the hypotheses that the animals can associate a reward with trained colours and that they can discriminate between different colour hues. The sengis preferred the trained colours over the others, indicating associative learning. They could discriminate between all tested colours (blue, red, green, yellow). The sengis’ colour choice behaviour indicates that the animals can use also colour features to find food plant material. Additionally, learning abilities most likely are essential for the sengis’ foraging activities, for instance by associating floral or fruit shape, colour or scent with nectar or ripe fruit, to increase the efficiency to locate food sources.

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Ecology, distribution and habitat suitability analysis of the North African sengi (Petrosaltator rozeti, Macroscelidea, Afrotheria) in Tunisia

El-Farhati,

Pietersen,

Jaziri

et al. 2024

Mammalia

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The North African sengi (Petrosaltator rozeti syn. Elephantulus rozeti) is a small mammal endemic to the Maghreb area, and is one of the least studied mammals in North Africa. Little is known about its status, habitat preference, and distribution across large areas of its range. This work provides a detailed geographical and ecological distribution of the species in Tunisia based on 200 surveyed sites throughout the country with 103 positive occurrence records. We also used species distribution modelling to assess the habitat suitability of the species. P. rozeti showed a heterogeneous bioclimatic niche, with a presence in the semi-arid, arid and Saharan bioclimatic zones. But the species’ distribution seems to be limited to the main mountain ranges of Tunisia. This was also confirmed by habitat suitability modeling where the elevation was the most informative predictor variable. Our work also show some first recorded ecological traits, confirms the rock-dwelling specialist nature of the species and debate its endemism to mountain ecosystems.

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Colour vision in sengis (Macroscelidea, Afrotheria, Mammalia): choice experiments indicate dichromatism

Cited by 3 publications

References 98 publications

Hyobanche hanekomii(Orobanchaceae) is pollinated by non-flying mammals and birds

Hyobanche hanekomii(Orobanchaceae) is pollinated by non-flying mammals and birds

Associative colour learning and discrimination in the South African Cape rock sengi Elephantulus edwardii (Macroscelidea, Afrotheria, Mammalia)

Ecology, distribution and habitat suitability analysis of the North African sengi (Petrosaltator rozeti, Macroscelidea, Afrotheria) in Tunisia

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