ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2025
Sharper, straighter, stiffer, stronger: sexually dimorphic bill shape enhances male stabbing performance in the green hermit hummingbird (Phaethornis guy).
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Mutualism and Antagonism in a Post-Extinction Hawaiian Bird-Lobelioid Pollination System.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Bill sexual dimorphism has been primarily linked to differential use of food resources between sexes. However, intrasexual selection has been suggested to also influence hummingbird bill morphology. Males of Phaethornis longirostris (long-billed hermit) possess sharp, elongated, dagger-like bill-tips that enhance puncturing ability and territory defense during male-male lekking combat. Yet, the prevalence of weaponized bills in hermits and the impact of bill shape on fighting performance remain unexplored. We employed 3D modelling and finite element analysis to explore bill dimorphism and stabbing performance in another lekking hummingbird: Phaethornis guy (green hermit). Our results reveal that P. guy exhibits a male-specific bill-tip dagger, and that males' straighter bills show greater biomechanical performance during stabbing tests, transmitting forces more efficiently (strain energy) and reducing the risk of breakage (von Mises stress). These findings provide further evidence of bill-tip weaponry and support a role of agonistic interactions in the evolution of bill dimorphism.
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