the evolution of the multicoloured face of mandrills insights from the perceptual space of colour vision五彩缤纷的演变的山魈见解从视觉色彩的感性空间.pdfVIP

The Evolution of the Multicoloured Face of Mandrills: Insights from the Perceptual Space of Colour Vision 1 1 ´ 2 3 Julien P. Renoult *, H. Martin Schaefer , Bettina Salle , Marie J. E. Charpentier 1 Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 2 Centre de Primatologie, Centre International de ´ Recherches Medicales, Franceville, Gabon, 3 Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive UMR 5175, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Montpellier, France Abstract Multicomponent signals consist of several traits that are perceived as a whole. Although many animals rely on multicomponent signals to communicate, the selective pressures shaping these signals are still poorly understood. Previous work has mainly investigated the evolution of multicomponent signals by studying each trait individually, which may not accurately reflect the selective pressures exerted by the holistic perception of signal receivers. Here, we study the design of the multicoloured face of an Old World primate, the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), in relation to two aspects of signalling that are expected to be selected by receivers: conspicuousness and information. Using reflectance data on the blue and red colours of the faces of 34 males and a new method of hue vectorisation in a perceptual space of colour vision, we show that the blue hue maximises contrasts to both the red hue and the foliage background colouration, thereby increasing the conspicuousness of the whole display. We further show that although blue saturation, red saturation and the contrast between blue and red colours are all correlated with dominance, domi