Mixed parentage broods indicate group spawning in the brood parasitic cuckoo catfish
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68081766%3A_____%2F25%3A00617940" target="_blank" >RIV/68081766:_____/25:00617940 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/00216224:14310/25:00143264
Result on the web
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mec.17692" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mec.17692</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.17692" target="_blank" >10.1111/mec.17692</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Mixed parentage broods indicate group spawning in the brood parasitic cuckoo catfish
Original language description
Obligate brood parasites delegate the workload of costly parental care to their hosts. Theory predicts that release from demanding parental care increases the importance of other factors to shape mating patterns. However, behavioural observations and parentage estimates are notoriously difficult to obtain in species with covert reproductive strategies, such as brood parasites, and evidence for their mating strategies are scarce. Molecular genetic methods provide a powerful tool to identify concealed mating patterns. Here, we reconstruct the parentage of cuckoo catfish (Synodontis multipunctatus) clutches collected in the wild using a combination of newly developed microsatellite markers, mitochondrial markers, and maximum likelihood estimates of pairwise relatedness. Cuckoo catfish parasitise mouthbrooding cichlids in Lake Tanganyika, but a natural spawning of the brood parasite has never been observed. We examined 429 females of confirmed host cichlid species (parasitism prevalence 6%, 24 parasitised clutches with 1-14 embryos) and found that 46% of clutches with three or more offspring (i.e., 6 out of 13) were parented by more than two catfish individuals. We demonstrated variable mating patterns including polyandrous and polygynous mating, and host sharing by separate, genetically monogamous, catfish pairs. This indicates that cuckoo catfish parasitism involves groups of catfish with reduced capability to monopolise mating opportunities. In general, our results demonstrate how reproductive strategy and mating patterns in a species with concealed breeding behaviour can be investigated and provide valuable insights into the mating system of a brood parasitic species other than hitherto studied avian brood parasites.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
—
OECD FORD branch
10613 - Zoology
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GX21-00788X" target="_blank" >GX21-00788X: The role of coevolution in ecological speciation</a><br>
Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Molecular Ecology
ISSN
0962-1083
e-ISSN
1365-294X
Volume of the periodical
34
Issue of the periodical within the volume
6
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
12
Pages from-to
e17692
UT code for WoS article
001436693400005
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85219194653