| [primary structure of alpha and beta chains from the major hemoglobin component of the magpie goose (anseranas semipalmata, anatidae)]. | the amino acid sequence of the alpha and beta chains from the major hemoglobin component (hba) of australian magpie goose (anseranas semipalmata) is given. the minor component with the alpha d chains was detected, but only found in low concentrations. by homologous comparison, greylag goose hemoglobin (anser anser) and australian magpie goose alpha chains differ by 13 amino acids or 17 nucleotide (4 two point mutations) exchanges, beta chains by 6 exchanges. seven alpha 1 beta 1 contacts are mod ... | 1983 | 6840695 |
| behavioural lateralisation in the australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen). | in many vertebrates, the brain is lateralised such that each hemisphere is specialised to serve specific functions. this may translate into lateralisation in behaviour through preferential use of receptors or appendages associated with a particular hemisphere (e.g., handedness) or in differential responses to stimuli perceived on the animal's left or right side. in this study, we investigated behavioural laterality in the australian magpie, gymnorhina tibicen. we found that, while the birds did ... | 2006 | 16513572 |
| mechanisms of song production in the australian magpie. | australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen) are notable for their vocal prowess. we investigated the syringeal and respiratory dynamics of vocalization by two 6-month-old males, whose songs had a number of adult features. there was no strong lateral syringeal dominance and unilateral phonation was most often achieved by closing the syringeal valve on the contralateral side of the syrinx. unlike other songbirds studied, magpies sometimes used an alternative syringeal motor pattern during unilateral p ... | 2011 | 20852867 |
| three new species of myrsidea (phthiraptera: menoponidae) from new zealand passerines (aves: passeriformes). | myrsidea ivanliteraki new species, m. novaeseelandiae new species, and m. hihi new species are described and illustrated from new zealand birds, with gymnorhina tibicen, anthornis melanura and notiomystis cincta as type hosts respectively. also, myrsidea vincula is redescribed and illustrated from one sample ex strepera fuliginosa from australia. keys for the identification of females and males of the five species of myrsidea recorded from new zealand are also given. | 2016 | 27395595 |
| are lice good proxies for host history? a comparative analysis of the australian magpie, gymnorhina tibicen, and two species of feather louse. | parasites have been recently advocated as useful proxies for unravelling a complex evolutionary history of a host. in the present study, two species of feather lice, brueelia semiannulata and philopterus sp. were analysed for mitochondrial variation and compared to mitochondrial and nuclear variation in their host, the australian magpie gymnorhina tibicen. phylogenies constructed using maximum likelihood methods revealed geographic structuring for both species of feather lice and host. our genet ... | 2008 | 18461081 |
| the function of duetting in magpie-larks: conflict, cooperation, or commitment? | avian duetting is a poorly understood phenomenon despite many hypotheses as to its function. contrary to the recent view that duetting functions for mate guarding and is a result of conflict between the sexes, australian magpie-larks, grallina cyanoleuca, do not use duetting as a paternity guard. i used a playback experiment to investigate the role of antiphonal duetting in territorial defence and pair bond maintenance, two traditional hypotheses about the function of duetting. the experiment sh ... | 2000 | 11082237 |
| isolation and characterization of avipoxviruses from wild birds in western australia. | avipoxviruses were isolated from wart-like lesions in an australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen) and a silvereye (zosterops lateralis), and the poxvirus aetiology of wart-like lesions in a magpie-lark (grallina cyanoleuca) was confirmed. the three viruses produced typical pock lesions on the chorioallantoic membrane of embryonated eggs and were able to replicate in trypsin-dispersed chick embryo fibroblast cultures but not confluent monolayer cultures. pock neutralization and immunodiffusion stud ... | 1983 | 6307227 |
| perineuronal satellite neuroglia in the telencephalon of new caledonian crows and other passeriformes: evidence of satellite glial cells in the central nervous system of healthy birds? | glia have been implicated in a variety of functions in the central nervous system, including the control of the neuronal extracellular space, synaptic plasticity and transmission, development and adult neurogenesis. perineuronal glia forming groups around neurons are associated with both normal and pathological nervous tissue. recent studies have linked reduction in the number of perineuronal oligodendrocytes in the prefrontal cortex with human schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. ther ... | 2013 | 23904989 |
| "vicious, aggressive bird stalks cyclist": the australian magpie (cracticus tibicen) in the news. | the australian magpie ( cracticus tibicen ) is a common bird found in urban australian environments where its nest defense behavior during spring brings it into conflict with humans. this article explores the role of print media in covering this conflict. leximancer software was used to analyze newspaper reports about the australian magpie from a sample of 634 news stories, letters-to-the editor and opinion pieces, published in newspapers from around australia between 1 january 2010 and 31 decem ... | 2016 | 27128947 |
| stability of referential signalling across time and locations: testing alarm calls of australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen) in urban and rural australia and in fiji. | in many avian species, vocal repertoire expands and changes throughout life as new syllables are added and sounds adapted to neighbours and circumstances. referential signals, on the other hand, demand stability and lack of variation so that their meaning can be understood by conspecifics at all times. it is not known how stable such signals may be when the context is changed entirely but the point of reference remains unchanged. we investigated these questions in a rare case of forced transloca ... | 2013 | 23904991 |
| clever strategists: australian magpies vary mobbing strategies, not intensity, relative to different species of predator. | anti-predator behaviour of magpies was investigated, using five species of model predators, at times of raising offspring. we predicted differences in mobbing strategies for each predator presented and also that raising juveniles would affect intensity of the mobbing event. fourteen permanent resident family groups were tested using 5 different types of predator (avian and reptilian) known to be of varying degrees of risk to magpies and common in their habitat. in all, 210 trials were conducted ... | 2013 | 23638394 |
| a multilocus coalescent analysis of the speciational history of the australo-papuan butcherbirds and their allies. | changes in geology, sea-level and climate are hypothesised to have been major driving processes of evolutionary diversification (speciation and extinction) in the australo-papuan region. here we use complete species-level sampling and multilocus (one mitochondrial gene, five nuclear loci) coalescent analyses to estimate evolutionary relationships and test hypotheses about the role of changes in climate and landscape in the diversification of the australo-papuan butcherbirds and allies (cracticin ... | 2013 | 23219707 |
| sequence variation in the melanocortin-1 receptor (mc1r) does not explain continent-wide plumage color differences in the australian magpie (cracticus tibicen). | the genetic basis of plumage color variation has already been determined for many model species; however, the genetic mechanisms responsible for intraspecific color variation in the majority of wild-bird species are yet to be uncovered. the australian magpie (cracticus tibicen) is a large black and white passerine which is widely distributed across the australian continent. the proportion of melanized back plumage varies between regionally delineated subspecies; where back-color forms overlap, i ... | 2012 | 23066146 |
| hemispheric specialization in australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen) shown as eye preferences during response to a predator. | brain lateralization in birds is frequently expressed as a preference to view stimuli with one eye using the lateral monocular visual field. as few studies have investigated lateralized behaviour in wild birds, we scored eye preferences of australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen) performing anti-predator responses. when animals deal with potential predators by mobbing them, constant assessment is needed to consider whether to approach, mob or withdraw. when presented with a taxidermic specimen of ... | 2008 | 18498946 |
| alarm calls and referentiality in australian magpies: between midbrain and forebrain, can a case be made for complex cognition? | the ability to communicate intentionally and referentially about predators by issuing specific and unique alarm calls per predator type, usually considered indicative of forebrain activity, is generally regarded as evidence of complex cognition. however, the neurobiology of such expressions is not well-understood and the relationship of song to alarm calls is not clear. in the very few studies of brain activity in calls of non-songbirds and songbirds so far, it was found that it is only the midb ... | 2008 | 18498938 |
| pleistocene refugia in an arid landscape: analysis of a widely distributed australian passerine. | while many studies have documented the effect that glacial cycles have had on northern hemisphere species, few have attempted to study the associated effect of aridification at low latitudes in the southern hemisphere. we investigated the past effects that cyclic aridification may have had on the population structure and history of a widespread endemic australian bird species, the australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen). one thousand one hundred and sixty-six samples from across its native range ... | 2007 | 17561911 |
| high levels of extra-group paternity in a population of australian magpies gymnorhina tibicen: evidence from microsatellite analysis. | breeding systems vary widely in birds, from monogamous pairs through to complex group systems where subordinates assist breeding individuals to rear young each season. the australian magpie varies geographically both in plumage patterns and social organization. some populations of both eastern and western plumage forms are plural breeders with group size varying from three to over 15 mature individuals. this study used variation at microsatellite loci to determine the level of extra-group patern ... | 2003 | 14629358 |
| similarity of the song nuclei of male and female australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen). | the organisation of the song control nuclei of the australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen), a species with highly complex song, was investigated. in contrast to most of the songbirds studied so far, the australian magpie sings throughout the year and both males and females sing. all of the forebrain song nuclei, including the high vocal centre (hvc), the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (ra), area x and the lateral and medial magnocellular nuclei of the anterior neostriatum (lman and mman) wer ... | 2001 | 11377732 |
| population genetic structure of australian magpies: evidence for regional differences in juvenile dispersal behaviour. | territorial group size in australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen) ranges from monogamous pairs to groups of more than 20 individuals. it has been hypothesized that large territorial groups result from the retention of juveniles after a breeding effort. if this is true, local populations consisting of large groups are likely to exhibit the most genetic structure, because over time similar genotypes will tend to be confined to limited areas if juveniles are predominantly philopatric. the objective ... | 2000 | 11012719 |
| plasma levels of luteinizing hormone and androgens in relation to age and breeding status among cooperatively breeding australian magpies (gymnorhina tibicen latham). | plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (lh), testosterone (t), and 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (dht) were measured in relation to age and social/breeding status among free-living male australian magpies. magpies live in territorial groups of up to 20 individuals and due to a largely age-related dominance hierarchy among males, many individuals are prevented from breeding. adult plumage is not attained until the fourth year, but males can produce motile sperm in their first year. plasma levels of l ... | 1991 | 1879671 |
| white and amber light at night disrupt sleep physiology in birds. | artificial light at night can disrupt sleep in humans [1-4] and other animals [5-10]. a key mechanism for light to affect sleep is via non-visual photoreceptors that are most sensitive to short-wavelength (blue) light [11]. to minimize effects of artificial light on sleep, many electronic devices shift from white (blue-rich) to amber (blue-reduced) light in the evening. switching outdoor lighting from white to amber might also benefit wildlife [12]. however, whether these two colors of light aff ... | 2020 | 32707063 |
| metatranscriptomic analysis of virus diversity in urban wild birds with paretic disease. | wild birds are major natural reservoirs and potential dispersers of a variety of infectious diseases. as such, it is important to determine the diversity of viruses they carry and use this information to help understand the potential risks of spillover to humans, domestic animals, and other wildlife. we investigated the potential viral causes of paresis in long-standing, but undiagnosed, disease syndromes in wild australian birds. rna from diseased birds was extracted and pooled based on tissue ... | 2020 | 32581107 |
| presence and diversity of mixed avian plasmodium spp. infections in introduced birds whose distribution overlapped with threatened new zealand endemic birds. | aims: to determine the presence of infection and co-infection of plasmodium lineages in introduced birds at translocation sites for the north island saddleback (philesturnus rufusater), to investigate their role as plasmodium spp. reservoirs.methods: blood samples were collected from introduced bird species, with a special focus on blackbirds (turdus merula) and song thrushes (turdus philomelos), at six locations in the north island of new zealand that were the origin, or translocation sites, fo ... | 2020 | 31645214 |
| urban noise restricts, fragments, and lightens sleep in australian magpies. | urban areas are inherently noisy, and this noise can disrupt biological processes as diverse as communication, migration, and reproduction. we investigated how exposure to urban noise affects sleep, a process critical to optimal biological functioning, in australian magpies (cracticus tibicen). eight magpies experimentally exposed to noise in captivity for 24-h spent more time awake, and less time in non-rapid eye movement (non-rem) and rem sleep at night than under quiet conditions. sleep was a ... | 2020 | 32882458 |
| females sing more often and at higher frequencies than males in australian magpies. | birdsong is a particularly useful model for animal communication studies. however, current knowledge is derived mainly from the study of male song, and is therefore incomplete. here, we investigated whether singing behaviour differs between sexes in the cooperatively breeding western australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis). this subspecies lives in territorial groups, and in our population there is a female-biased sex ratio, which may lead to a high level of female-female competition for ... | 2020 | 31953130 |
| larger group sizes facilitate the emergence and spread of innovations in a group-living bird. | the benefits of group living have traditionally been attributed to risk dilution or the efficient exploitation of resources; individuals in social groups may therefore benefit from access to valuable information. if sociality facilitates access to information, then individuals in larger groups may be predicted to solve novel problems faster than individuals in smaller groups. additionally, larger group sizes may facilitate the subsequent spread of innovations within animal groups, as has been pr ... | 2019 | 31875855 |
| questioning the developmental effects of group size on cognitive abilities. | australian magpies living in larger social groups learned quicker and made fewer errors across four cognitive tasks compared with birds living in smaller social groups, and this pattern may be driven by a developmental effect associated with the cognitive demands of living in larger groups. while smulders (2018, learning and behavior, 1-2, doi:10.3758/s13420-018-0335-0) questioned whether this group size-cognitive performance pattern was driven by motivation rather than cognitive abilities, we q ... | 2019 | 31749114 |
| molecular characterisation of a novel pathogenic avipoxvirus from the australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen). | avipoxviruses are significant pathogens infecting a wide range of wild and domestic bird species globally. here, we describe a novel genome sequence of magpiepox virus (mppv) isolated from an australian magpie. in the present study, histopathologically confirmed cutaneous pox lesions were used for transmission electron microscopic analysis, which demonstrated brick-shaped virions with regular spaced thread-like ridges, indicative of likely infectious particles. subsequent analysis of the recover ... | 2020 | 31726310 |
| the association between evidence of a predator threat and responsiveness to alarm calls in western australian magpies (cracticus tibicen dorsalis). | alarm calls are a widespread form of antipredator defence and being alerted to the presence of predators by the alarm calls of conspecifics is considered one of the benefits of group living. however, while social information can allow an individual to gain additional information, it can also at times be inaccurate or irrelevant. such variation in the accuracy of social information is predicted to select for receivers to discriminate between sources of social information. in this study, we used p ... | 2019 | 31523516 |
| heritability of plumage colour morph variation in a wild population of promiscuous, long-lived australian magpies. | colour polymorphisms have evolutionary significance for the generation and maintenance of species diversity. demonstrating heritability of polymorphic traits can be challenging for wild populations of long-lived species because accurate information is required on trait expression and familial relationships. the australian magpie cracticus tibicen has a continent-wide distribution featuring several distinct plumage morphs, differing primarily in colour of back feathers. black or white-backed morp ... | 2019 | 30911140 |
| unscrambling variation in avian eggshell colour and patterning in a continent-wide study. | the evolutionary drivers underlying marked variation in the pigmentation of eggs within many avian species remains unclear. the leading hypotheses proposed to explain such variation advocate the roles of genetic differences, signalling and/or structural integrity. one means of testing among these hypotheses is to capitalize on museum collections of eggs obtained throughout a broad geographical range of a species to ensure sufficient variation in predictors pertaining to each hypothesis. here, we ... | 2019 | 30800374 |
| the protective value of a defensive display varies with the experience of wild predators. | predation has driven the evolution of diverse adaptations for defence among prey, and one striking example is the deimatic display. while such displays can resemble, or indeed co-occur with, aposematic 'warning' signals, theory suggests deimatic displays may function independently of predator learning. the survival value of deimatic displays against wild predators has not been tested before. here we used the mountain katydid acripeza reticulata to test the efficacy of a putative deimatic display ... | 2019 | 30679660 |
| smarter through group living: a response to smulders. | we recently identified a strong, positive relationship between group size and individual cognitive performance, and a strong, positive relationship between female cognitive performance and reproductive success (ashton, ridley, edwards, & thornton in nature, 554, 364-367, 2018). an opinion piece by smulders (learning & behavior, https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-018-0335-0, 2018) raised the interesting notion that these patterns may be underlined by motivational factors. in this commentary, we highl ... | 2019 | 30536039 |
| development of meaningful vocal signals in a juvenile territorial songbird (gymnorhina tibicen) and the dilemma of vocal taboos concerning neighbours and strangers. | young territorial songbirds have calls to learn, especially calls that may be vital for maintaining territory. territoriality is largely reinforced and communicated by vocal signals. in their natal territory, juvenile magpies (gymnorhina tibicen) enjoy protection from predators for 8⁻9 months. it is not at all clear, however, when and how a young territorial songbird learns to distinguish the meaning of calls and songs expressed by parents, conspecifics, neighbours, and heterospecifics, or how t ... | 2018 | 30513676 |
| an intraspecific appraisal of the social intelligence hypothesis. | the prevailing hypotheses for the evolution of cognition focus on either the demands associated with group living (the social intelligence hypothesis (sih)) or ecological challenges such as finding food. comparative studies testing these hypotheses have generated highly conflicting results; consequently, our understanding of the drivers of cognitive evolution remains limited. to understand how selection shapes cognition, research must incorporate an intraspecific approach, focusing on the causes ... | 2018 | 30104433 |
| smarter through group living? | wild australian magpies living (or growing up) in larger social groups take fewer trials to solve a battery of four cognitive tests than those living (or growing up) in smaller groups. the tests all draw on a common underlying factor, but is this factor cognitive or motivational? | 2019 | 29992421 |
| cognitive performance is linked to group size and affects fitness in australian magpies. | the social intelligence hypothesis states that the demands of social life drive cognitive evolution. this idea receives support from comparative studies that link variation in group size or mating systems with cognitive and neuroanatomical differences across species, but findings are contradictory and contentious. to understand the cognitive consequences of sociality, it is also important to investigate social variation within species. here we show that in wild, cooperatively breeding australian ... | 2018 | 29414945 |
| deceptive vocal duets and multimodal display in a songbird. | many group-living animals cooperatively signal to defend resources, but what stops deceptive signalling to competitors about coalition strength? cooperative-signalling species include mated pairs of birds that sing duets to defend their territory. individuals of these species sometimes sing 'pseudo-duets' by mimicking their partner's contribution, but it is unknown if these songs are deceptive, or why duets are normally reliable. we studied pseudo-duets in australian magpie-larks, grallina cyano ... | 2017 | 28978738 |
| genomic characterisation of a novel avipoxvirus, magpiepox virus 2, from an australian magpie (gymnorhina tibicen terraereginae). | avipoxviruses are large, double-stranded dna viruses and are considered significant pathogens that may impact on the conservation of numerous bird species. the vast majority of avipoxviruses in wild birds remain uncharacterised and their genetic variability is unclear. here, we fully sequenced a novel avipoxvirus, magpiepox virus 2 (mppv2), which was isolated 62 years ago (in 1956) from an australian black-backed magpie. the mppv2 genome was 298,392 bp in length and contained 419 predicted open- ... | 2021 | 34315102 |