ArticleScientific reports2016
Porphyrins produce uniquely ephemeral animal colouration: a possible signal of virginity.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Variation in the Oxidative State of Collared Flycatcher (Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Bird Community Colours Across Different Types of Habitat.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Nestling Plumage Colour Variation in a Sexually Dichromatic Hole-Nesting Passerine Bird-Potential Functions and Mechanisms.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- CgPPOX and CgFECH Mediate Protoporphyrin IX Accumulation Predominantly in the Outer Mantle Fold of Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas.Marine biotechnology (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Does biofluorescence enhance visual signals in birds-of-paradise?Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Structural color in the bacterial domain: The ecogenomics of a 2-dimensional optical phenotype.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- UV-induced feather color change reflects its porphyrin content.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2024Article
- Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Photoluminescence in mammal fur: 111 years of research.Journal of mammalogy · 2023Article
- Detection of Porphyrins in Hair Using Capillary Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Brighter is better: bill fluorescence increases social attraction in a colonial seabird and reveals a potential link with foraging.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2021Article
- Red Fluorescence of European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) Spines Results from Free-Base Porphyrins of Potential Microbial Origin.Journal of chemical ecology · 2021Article
- Expanding the eggshell colour gamut: uroerythrin and bilirubin from tinamou (Tinamidae) eggshells.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2020Article
- Correlates of individual variation in the porphyrin-based fluorescence of red-necked nightjars (Caprimulgus ruficollis).Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Conjoint Analysis of SMRT- and Illumina-Based RNA-Sequencing Data ofFrontiers in genetics · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Colours that underlie animal pigmentation can either be permanent or renewable in the short term. Here we describe the discovery of a conspicuous salmon-pink colouration in the base of bustard feathers and down that has never been reported because of its extraordinarily brief expression. HPLC analyses indicated that its constituent pigments are coproporphyrin III and protoporphyrin IX, which are prone to photodegradation. Accordingly, an experimental exposure of feathers of three bustard species to sunlight produced a rapid disappearance of the salmon-pink colouration, together with a marked decrease in reflectance around 670 nm coinciding with the absorption of porphyrin photoproducts. The disappearance of the salmon-pink colouration can occur in a period as short as 12 min, likely making it the most ephemeral colour phenotype in any extant bird. The presence of this colour trait in males performing sexual displays may thus indicate to females a high probability that the males were performing their first displays and would engage in their first copulations in the breeding season. In dominant males, sperm quality decreases over successive copulations, thus porphyrin-based colouration may evolve as a signal of virginity that allows females to maximize their fitness in lek mating systems.
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