Taxonomic status of Paraguay’s only endemic bird, the Chaco Nothura Nothura chacoensis (Aves: Tinamidae)

The Chaco Nothura Nothura chacoensis Conover is endemic to the Chaco of western Paraguay. Originally described as a subspecies of the Spotted Nothura N. maculosa (Temminck), it has been regarded by many authorities as a distinct species based on alleged sympatry with N. maculosa. However, an earlier study revealed no differences in cytochrome b sequences between the two taxa. We reanalyzed the geographic distribution and morphological variation of N. chacoensis and N. maculosa in western Paraguay based on museum specimens. There is no locality where specimens of both taxa were collected, thus there is no evidence for sympatry. Morphologically the two taxa did not differ in any size or shape variable. Plumage characters overlapped in a few specimens. We recorded vocalizations from at least four individuals of N. chacoensis within its known range. Its typical territorial song was a very rapid, relatively monotone trill that was virtually identical with the most frequent territorial song of N. maculosa in length, number of notes, rate of notes, and emphasized frequency, and differed substantially from the songs of other species of Nothura. Based on distributional, morphological, biochemical, and especially vocalization data, we conclude that N. chacoensis should be regarded as a subspecies of N. maculosa.

Song Repertoire and Comparative Analysis of Song Structure of Chaffinch, Fringilla Coelebs (Fringillidae), from the Northeast of Balkan Region

The repertoire of chaffinches from the northeast of Balkan region consists of 39 song types, 9 of them are most widespread. Comparative analysis of the chaffinch song types from the Balkans and from Caucasus, East Carpathians, Crimean Mountains, plain regions of Ukraine was done. It revealed no Balkan song types in other regions. Chaffinch songs from Balkan are similar by structure to songs from the Caucasus and East Carpathians and quite different from songs from the Crimea and Ukrainian plains. In songs of Balkan chaffinches we discovered 106 elements. Five of them are specific for local birds, 101 were found in birds from other populations. However, 37 elements are common with ones in East Carpathian populations but they were absent in chaffinch songs recorded in the Crimea and plain regions of Ukraine. Common elements in bird songs from the East Carpathians and the Balkans may be an evidence of distant relations between these territorial song complexes and/or presence of relic elements in south mountain complexes. Th e rain-calls of Balkan chaffinches radically diff er from those of birds of Crimea, plain regions of Ukraine and East Carpathians and quite identical to calls of the Caucasus birds

Complex vocal imitation during ontogeny in a bat

Vocal imitation—the ability to learn a previously unknown acoustic signal from a tutor—is considered to be a key innovation in the evolution of speech. This faculty is very rare and patchily distributed within the animal kingdom, suggesting multiple instances of convergent evolution. It has long been predicted that bats should be capable of vocal imitation and our results provide evidence for this phenomenon. We report that pups of the bat Saccopteryx bilineata learn a complex vocalization through vocal imitation. During ontogeny, pups of both sexes imitate territorial song from adult males, starting with simple precursor songs that develop into genuine renditions. The resemblance of pup renditions to their acoustic model is not caused by physical maturation effects, is independent of pups' gender and relatedness towards adult males and becomes more pronounced during ontogeny, showing that auditory experience is essential for vocal development. Our findings indicate that the faculty of vocal imitation is more widespread than previously thought and emphasize the importance of research on audiovocal communication in bats for a better understanding of the evolutionary origin of vocal imitation.