Handicapping Male-cheaters By Stable Mate Relationship In Prinia Flaviventris And P. Inornata

Plait prinia (Prinia inornata) and yellow-bellied prinia (P. flaviventris), subj ected to Passeriformes Cisticolidae, are the relative species in modality and zoology. Both of them are monomorphic and monogamous species. The tails of this two prinias have a converse change compared with other species, which in breeding season are shorter than winter. This peculiar pattern is different from the species which get exaggerate long tails for the result of sexual selection and natural selection. It seems that this pattern is conflicted with Sexual selection model, but it may reveal a new survival strategy.In order to explain how this peculiar pattern influences breeding strategy, we studied at Nansha district Guangzhou for about one year. The main research and results are as follow: Handicapping male-cheaters by stable mate relationship in plait prinia andyellow-bellied priniaBy mate-choice cage tests on both of species to test whether Handicapping male-cheaters by stable mate relationship, we found that:1) Females preferred their mate males, and this preference would be more intensity with increase of the breeding time.2) Mate males would do more sexual display and threaten display than extra-pair males.Hence, we concluded that stable mate relation in species whose sexual traits are lost in breeding season could handicap the existence of male-cheaters. We conjectured that breeding investment and competition between females might be the main reason for stale mate relationship.The bird community structure in the reserve was complicated and many species were rare. In this area,141 species were recorded from 2009 to 2010. Among them, 12 were national protect species, and 16 species were Guangdong protection birds.