Jocelyn Hudon

Royal Alberta Museum · Curatorial & Research

We present six observations, including photographs, of at least four individual hummingbirds from Alberta and British Columbia that we have identified as hybrids between the Ruby-throated (Archilochus colubris) and Rufous (Selasphorus rufus) Hummingbirds, a hybrid combination currently poorly documented in the literature. Diagnostic features includ...

Common names of species are important for communicating with the general public. In principle, these names should provide an accessible way to engage with and identify species. The common names of species have historically been labile without standard guidelines, even within a language. Currently, there is no systematic assessment of how often comm...

Differences in life history can cause co-distributed species to display discordant population genetic patterns. In high-latitude animals, evolutionary processes may be especially influenced by long-distance seasonal migration, a widespread adaptation to seasonality. Although migratory movements are intuitively linked to dispersal, their evolutionar...

Pleistocene climate cycles are well documented to have shaped contemporary species distributions and genetic diversity. Northward range expansions in response to deglaciation following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; approximately 21 000 years ago) are surmised to have led to population size expansions in terrestrial taxa and changes in seasonal mig...

Consumption of the berries of two exotic bush honeysuckles (genus Lonicera) containing the red carotenoid pigment rhodoxanthin has resulted in abnormal erythristic plumages in several species of birds in eastern North America. Here we report 12 examples of plumage erythrism in the Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), in both live birds (5) and mu...

Studying species interactions at hybrid zones allows biologists to understand the forces that promote speciation. Hybridization among Sphyrapicus nuchalis, S. varius and S. ruber has long been acknowledged, and hybrid zones between S. nuchalis/S. ruber and S. varius/S. ruber have been characterized with both genetic and genomic data. Using a combin...

Hybridization can bring in single individuals alleles that were never designed to work together, which can result in unexpected or transgressive phenotypes. The Yellow-shafted (auratus group) and Red-shafted (cafer group) subspecies groups of the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) differ conspicuously in the coloration of their flight feathers, bu...

The green plumage of parrots confers a degree of camouflage amidst the canopy foliage the birds frequent. In parrots, green feather colors result from the juxtaposition of endogenously produced yellow pigments, termed psittacofulvins, and spongy structures in the feather barbs that produce a blue color. In rare individuals, the yellow pigments are...

Plumage coloration is important to birds for communication, camouflage, physiological processes, and mate selection. In rare individuals the coloration is disrupted, which provides opportunities to scrutinize the processes that normally produce it. Male House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) normally sport a red head and chest, a brown back, and whit...

Many species normally bright yellow have been turning up with abnormal orange-to-red feathers in eastern North America and the American Midwest. In addition to the well-documented orange tail-banded Cedar Waxwings, aberrantly reddened feathers have been recorded on Yellow-breasted Chat, Kentucky Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole and...

Yellow-shafted Flickers (Colaptes auratus auratus subspecies group of the Northern Flicker) occasionally have orange to red flight feathers in eastern North America far from the hybrid zone with the Red-shafted Flicker (C. a. cafer subspecies group). Blocks of feathers of anomalous color tend to show bilateral symmetry and may differ from one year...

Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) of unusual redness over large sections of their plumages were recently discovered in southeastern Canada. Reddish feathers from six of nine specimens sampled at the McGill Bird Observatory in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Montreal, Quebec in fall 2006 contained rhodoxanthin, a keto-carotenoid of deep red hue usually foun...

Manakins are small suboscine passerines renowned for elaborate courtship displays and pronounced sexual dichromatism. We extracted and identified the carotenoid pigments found in the bright yellow to red feathers of 15 Neotropical manakin species. Rhodoxanthin (4′,5′-didehydro-4,5′-retro-β,β-carotene-3,3′-dione) of a deep red hue was widely found i...

Indicator models of sexual selection suggest that signal honesty is maintained via costs of ornament expression. Carotenoid-based visual signals are a well-studied example, as carotenoids may be environmentally limited and impact signaler health. However, not all bright yellow, orange and red ornaments found in vertebrates are carotenoid-based; pte...

Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) were observed and/or netted on the coast of Bahia, Brazil in January and/or February from 1996 through 2003 as well as in November 2005. The breasts of almost all netted Roseate Terns examined were washed with pink. Analysis of breast feathers taken from birds during the breeding season indicates the pink color is c...

The past year (2008) produced not only fi rsts for Alberta, but also one for Canada! Indeed, the documentation of a Lucy's Warbler (Vermivora luciae) in a yard in Fort McMurray (of all places!) in November becomes the fi rst confi rmed report of the species in Canada. This is an incredible record considering that the species breeds in the dense low...

The Pin-tailed Manakin (Ilicura militaris) is a small, sexually dimorphic, frugivorous suboscine songbird (Pipridae; Passeriformes; Aves) endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. A variant individual of this species was recently described in which the red patches that characterise the male's Definitive plumage were replaced by orange-yellow ones....

Animals use several different types of pigments to acquire their colorful ornaments. Knowing the types of pigments that generate animal colors often provides valuable information about the costs of developing bright coloration as well as the benefits of using these signals in social or sexual contexts. It is often assumed that red, orange, and yell...

Trinidad guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are distributed along an environmental gradient in carotenoid availability that limits the carotenoid content of the orange spots of males. The amount of synthetic red pteridines (drosopterins) in the orange spots covaries with the carotenoid content, such that the ratio of the two types of pigments is roughly...

Feathers are amongst the most complex epidermal derivatives found in vertebrates. They have complex branched structures, grow from their bases by a unique mecha-nism, and come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, structures, and colours. Not only do feathers impart cover, insulation, waterproofing of the body, contribute to flight, tactile sensation...

We present the first detailed analysis of carotenoid pigmentation of the integument of guppies (Poecilia reticulata Peters), quantifying variation in carotenoid content and composition of wild guppies from three drainages on Trinidad (1) between the sexual and general pigmentation of males, (2) between the sexes, and (3) geographically in relation...

Carotenoid-based sexual coloration is the classic example of an honest signal of mate quality. Animals cannot synthesize carotenoid pigments and ultimately depend on dietary sources. Thus, in carotenoid-poor environments, carotenoid coloration may be a direct indicator of foraging ability and an indirect indicator of health and vigour. Carotenoid c...

Carotenoids produce most of the brilliant orange and yellow colours seen in animals, but animals cannot synthesize these pigments and must rely on dietary sources. The idea that carotenoids make good signals because they are a scarce limiting resource was proposed two decades ago and has become the leading hypothesis for the role of carotenoids in...

Woodpeckers typically have colorful, multipatterned plumages. To understand the biochemical basis of the species-specificity of coloration in woodpecker, the complement of carotenoids in the red and yellow feathers of 13 species of true woodpeckers (Picinae) was determined. The pigments were extracted under mild conditions. The extracts were analyz...

Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) lacking all melanin pigments in their plumage have been reported in the last few winters at feeders across Alberta. The birds are completely brilliant yellow, except for primarily white wings and tail and dark eyes. The uniformity of the yellow color on the head of color variants is surprising consider...

The reflective materials in the iris stroma of bright-irised American blackbirds (Icterinae, Emberizidae) and the red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus) (Vireonidae) were characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and diode-array detection. Two purines, guanine and hypoxanthine, and two pteridines, leucopterin and xanthopterin, wer...

The ultrastructure and chemical composition of reflective organelles in the anterior pigment epithelium of the iris of the European starling Sturnus vulgaris were examined. The reflective organelles produced a diffuse white reflectance at the iris mid-section which was visible only when the stroma was removed. The pigment granules were clear, angul...

Nesospiza buntings have speciated at the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the central South Atlantic Ocean. Two species, the Tristan Bunting (N. acunhae) and Wilkins' Bunting (N. wilkinsi), differ markedly in size and co-occur without interbreeding on Night- ingale Island. Nearby Inaccessible Island supports two altitudinally segregated color morphs...

The implications of primary research on pigmentation for the colour manipulation of animal species of economic importance, and the facilitation of specific processes in biotechnology are discussed. Pigment technologists, especially poultry and fish nutritionists, are concerned with achieving the often specific type and degree of coloration demanded...

This paper reviews evidence for the presence of pteridines in iridophores, leucophores, and xanthophores in a wide variety of vertebrate chromatophores, and argues that the chemical and functional distinction between pterinosomes and reflecting platelets is not as clear-cut as previously believed. Observations indicate that: (1) Pteridines may, eit...

Homeotherms are generally considered to lack classical active dermal pigment cells (chromatophores) in their integument, attributable to the development of an outer covering coat of hair or feathers. However, bright colored dermal pigment cells, comparable to chromatophores of lower vertebrates, are found in the irides of many birds. We propose tha...

This chapter discusses the identification of carotenoid pigments in birds. One extraordinary feature of avian carotenoids is their packaging. Feathers are unique to birds and form the interface between a remarkable metabolic machine and an unforgiving environment. The colors and patterns of their display are exceedingly important in individual and...

I used spectrophotometric, chromatographic, and chemical means to establish that rhodoxanthin, a 3-keto-retrodehydro carotenoid, was the only red pigment in the head feathers of the Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana). In contrast, the red head and body feathers of a close relative, the Scarlet Tanager (P. olivacea), exhibited several 4-keto-caro...

University Microfilms order no. 9008788. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Connecticut, 1989. Includes bibliographical references.

Pigments in the tail band of a recently discovered orange form were isolated and compared to those of normal Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum). The main pigment in the yellow feathers was identified as a canary-xanthophyll. The orange variants had, in addition, significant amounts (up to c. 40%) of the red carotenoid rhodoxanthin. Rectrix color...

We investigated the carotenoids found in the head feathers of three members of the Pipra erythrocephala superspecies by chromatographic, spectrophotometric, and chemical means. The Golden-headed Manakin (P. erythrocephala) primarily deposited yellow hydroxy-carotenoids in its head feathers, predominately lutein. Red keto-carotenoids were also depos...

The genetic relationships between four species of sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus Linneaus form trachurus, Gasterosteus wheatlandi Putnam, Pungitius pungitius (Linneaus), and Apeltes quadracus (Mitchill) were estimated by a locus-by-locus analysis of interspecific allozyme variation as well as by a band-counting analysis of soluble proteins in...