I report on tiny skeletons of stem-group hummingbirds from the early Oligocene of Germany that are of essentially modern appearance and exhibit morphological specializations toward nectarivory and hovering flight. These are the oldest fossils of modern-type hummingbirds, which had not previously been reported from the Old World. The findings demonstrate that early hummingbird evolution was not ...

A compilation of the known natural history of adult Cetoniinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from Argentina and adjacent countries is provided. Food items of adult Cetoniinae include pollen and/or nectar (flower visitors), sap and/or slime flux, ripened fruits on plants, green tissues and leaves, and honey. Of the 36 species of Cetoniinae from Argentina, food items are known only for 11 species (3...

Communication in plant-animal mutualisms frequently involves multiple perceivers. A fundamental uncertainty is whether and how species adapt to communicate with groups of mutualists having distinct sensory abilities. We quantified the colour conspicuousness of flowers and fruits originating from one European and two South American plant communities, using visual models of pollinators (bee and f...

The colors of fleshy fruits are considered to be a signal to seed-dispersing animals, but their diversity remains poorly understood. Using an avian color space to derive a sensory morphospace for fruit color, we tested four hypotheses of fruit color diversity: fruit colors occupy a limited area of the color space; they are less diverse than flower colors; fruit colors within localities are simi...

When insect activity is limited at low temperature, birds may be comparatively more important pollinators than insects for flowering plants. It has been thought that many large-flowered Rhododendron species are pollinated by local birds in the Himalayan regions because most of these species flower in spring at high elevation with cool atmospheric temperature. However, experimental evidence for ...

Bird pollination has evolved repeatedly among flowering plants but is almost exclusively characterized by passive transfer of pollen onto the bird and by nectar as primary reward [1, 2]. Food body rewards are exceedingly rare among eudicot flowering plants and are only known to occur on sterile floral organs [3]. In this study, we report an alternative bird pollination mechanism involving bulbo...

Chinese painting, as an important component of traditional culture, is one the forms art, with a long history and unique aesthetic value. There are various expression in from landscape painting bird flower to modern oil watercolor all which have profound cultural heritage artistic The value characteristics not only reflect essence culture humanism, but also views feelings artists on human natur...