1	Poisonous Birds Stephen E Kacir
2	Some Brief Definitions Chemical Defense: Use or containment of chemical substances to deter predators and/or parasites Poisonous Species: Organisms that deliver toxins by being ingested or having their toxins ingested by another organism Venomous Species: Organisms that exhibit highly developed cellular mechanisms for toxin production and have a corresponding delivery system
3	A Brief Survey of Animal Chemical Defenses Invertebrates Porifera Cnidaria Annelida Echinodermata Arthropoda Mollusca Vertebrates Osteichthyes Chondrichthyes Amphibia Lepidosauromorpha Mammalia Birds -- Overlooked
4	Unpalatability Northern Shoveler Common Eider Greater Honeyguide Eurasian Hoopoe Pied Kingfisher Black Cuckoo
5	Intoxication by Ingestion Eurasian Quail Coturnism - nausea, muscle pain, rarely death Unknown Chemical Ruffed Grouse Partridge Poisoning - nausea, delirium, pain, possibly death Andromedotoxin? Spur-winged Goose Cantharidin - Systemic Toxin Beetles (Meloidae)
6	Pitohui New Guinea, 1989 - John Dumbacher catches Hooded Pitohui Nanisani: Numbness, burning, tingling Rubbish Birds: Hooded & Variable Pitohui
7	Batrachotoxins Batrachotoxins bind to sodium ion channels, causing depolarization Disrupts muscle & nerve function Previously only known in three species of Phyllobates frogs in Colombia Other Symptoms: Nausea, sneezing, convulsions, paralysis, death
8
9	Crested Pitohui
10	Rufous Shrike-thrush
11	"Blue-capped Ifrita" Blue-capped Ifrita
12	Chemical Ecology Variable toxicity from location to location Source: Diet, possibly beetles (Genus Choresine, Family Melyridae) Toxin Sequestration: Feathers & skin Parasite Relief: Feather Lice Predators: Snakes, Raptors, Humans, Arboreal Marsupials Aposematism: Conspicuous colors to denote toxicity Toxic species produce a strong sour odor Toxic powder down Müllerian Mimicry: One or more toxic species resembling a more common toxic species
13	New Frontier for Toxic Alkaloids
14	Acknowledgements I want to thank Matt Sharp & The Academy of Natural Sciences for allowing me to use images from the VIREO collection (slides 6 & 8-11) Slide 4: For Photo information see (Weldon 2000) Slide 7: For Figure information see (Dumbacher et al 2000) Many of the articles on this topic are available on-line at John Dumbacher’s Website: http://www.calacademy.org/research/bmammals/jdumbacher.html Additional Images were borrowed from the following websites: Slide 1: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/14/MNGUKBAJS61.DTL Slide 2: http://www.kostich.com/timber_rattlesnake.htm Slide 2: http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gallery/fish.htm Slide 3: http://encarta.msn.com/media_461534650/Platypus.html Slide 3: http://www.waterworxbali.com/blue-spotted-stingray.shtml Slide 3: http://www.reefseekers.com/PIXPAGES/Bonaire%20'04/Bristleworm_on_a_sponge.jpg Slide 3: http://www.hawaii.rr.com/leisure/reviews/jennifer_crites/2004-05_jjamboree.htm Slide 5 http://sdakotabirds.com/quizzes/quiz1/question20_ans.htm Slide 5: http://www.wildlife-photo.org/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=wildlife_birds_photography Slide 5: http://www.oiseaux.net/photos/luis.casiano/caille.des.bles.1.html Slide 7: http://www.sthlm-herp.net/galleri/galleri_800/simongroda_800.html Slide 13: http://www.charliesbirdblog.com/~charlie/MEX26mar05/MEX26mar05.html
15	References Bartram, S. & Boland, W. (2001) Chemistry and Ecology of Toxic Birds. Chembiochem 2, 809-811. Bloom, K.J. & Grivetti, L.E. (2001) The Mysterious History of Partridge Poisoning. J. History Med. 56, 68-76. Burtt, E.H., Jr. (1999) Think Small. Auk 116, 878-881. Daly, J.W. (1998) Biodiversity of Alkaloids in Amphibian Skin: A dietary Arthropod Source. Pure & Applied Chem. 70, 2132. Daly, J.W. (2003) Ernest Guenther Award in Chemistry of Natural Products. Amphibian Skin: A Remarkable Source of Biologically Active Arthropod Alkaloids. J. Med. Chem. 46, 445-452. Daly, J.W., Bommer, P., & Biemann, K. (1965) Batrachotoxin. The Active Princlple of the Colombian Arrow Poison Frog, Phyllobates bicolor. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 87, 124-126. Diamond, J.M. (1992) Rubbish birds are poisonous. Nature 360, 19-20. Dumbacher, J.P. (1999) Evolution of Toxicity in Pitohuis: I. Effects of Homobatrachotoxin on Chewing Lice (Order Phthiraptera) Auk 116, 957-963. Dumbacher, J.P., Beehler, B.M., Spande, T.F., Garraffo, H.M., & Daly, J.W. (1992) Homobatrachotoxin in the Genus Pitohui: Chemical Defense in Birds? Science 258, 799-801. Dumbacher, J.P. & Fleischer, R.C. (2001) Phylogenetic evidence for colour pattern convergence in toxic pitohuis: Müllerian mimicry in birds? Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 268, 1971-1976. Dumbacher, J.P. & Pruett-Jones, S. (1996) Avian Chemical Defense. Current Ornithology 13, 137-174. Dumbacher, J.P., Spande, T.F. & Daly, J.W. (2000) Batrachotoxin alkaloids from passerine birds: A second toxic bird genus (Ifrita kowaldi) from New Guinea. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 12970-12975.
16	References Continued Dumbacher, J.P., Wako, A., Derrickson, S.R., Samuelson, A., Spande, T.F., & Daly, J.W. (2004) Melyrid beetles (Choresine): A putative source for the batrachotoxin alkaloids found in poison-dart frogs and toxic passerine birds. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 1587-15860. Friend, M. & Franson, J.C. (1999) Field Manual of Wildlife Diseases: Birds. (USGS, Madison, WI, USA). Glendinning, J.I. (1993) Pitohui: How Toxic and to Whom? Science 259, 582-583. Menon, G.K. & Menon, J. (2000) Avian Epidermal Lipids: Functional Considerations and Relationship to Feathering. Amer. Zool. 40, 540-552. Mouritsen, K.N. (1994) Toxic Birds: defence against parasites? Oikos 69, 357-358. Poulsen, B.O. (1994) Poison Pitohui Birds: Against Predators or Ectoparasites? Emu 94, 128-129. Saporito, R.A., Garraffo, H.M., Donnelly, M.A., Edwards, A.L., & Longino, J.T. (2004) Formicine ants: An arthropod source for the pumiliotoxin alkaloids of dendrobatid poison frogs. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 8045-8050. Weldon, P.J. (2000) Avian chemical defense: Toxic birds not of a feather. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 12948-12949.