Tadpole begging reveals high quality

Parents can benefit from allocating limited resources non-randomly among offspring, and offspring solicitation (i.e., begging) is often hypothesized to evolve because it contains information valuable to choosy parents. We tested the diagnostic predictions of three ‘honest begging’ hypotheses –Signal of Need, Signal of Quality, and Signal of Hunger – in the tadpoles of a terrestrial frog (Oophaga pumilio). In this frog, mothers provision tadpoles with trophic eggs, and when mothers visit, tadpoles perform a putative begging signal by stiffening their bodies and vibrating rapidly. We assessed the information content of intense tadpole begging with an experimental manipulation of tadpole condition (need/quality) and food-deprivation (hunger). This experiment revealed patterns consistent with the Signal of Quality hypothesis and directly counter to predictions of Signal of Need and Signal of Hunger. Begging effort and performance were higher in more developed and higher condition tadpoles a...