How predators select on conspicuous prey traits is not well understood. We used a laboratory setup to investigate the role of learning in predator choice of conspicuous visual traits. We used a generalist predator, the great tit, and coloured wings of males of two species of damselflies as prey. Wing pigmentation differs between the species in colour (green vs. blue) and size (large vs. small). Wing pigmentation is a sexually selected trait that experiences negative selection by avian predators. Inexperienced great tits showed no preference for the colour or the size of wing pigmentation. Great tits were then repeatedly exposed to rewarded wings with either large or small wing patch size. When these experienced birds were exposed to both wing patch sizes for the first time, they tended to prefer the wings with the large patch, irrespective of their previous experience. Our results suggest that the choice of the predator was based on an initial association of the trait to a reward followed by a preference for a supernormal stimulus, probably due to a larger sensory stimulation. We discuss the implications of our laboratory results in the light of previous estimates of damselfly predation risk under field conditions.

中文翻译：

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对超常刺激的偏好往往会覆盖最初习得的明显猎物特征的关联：来自实验室研究的启示

捕食者如何选择显眼的猎物特征尚不清楚。我们使用实验室设置来研究学习在捕食者选择显眼视觉特征中的作用。我们使用了两种豆娘的雄性大山雀和彩色翅膀作为猎物。翅膀色素沉着在颜色（绿色与蓝色）和大小（大与小）的物种之间有所不同。翅膀色素沉着是一种性选择特征，会受到鸟类捕食者的负面选择。没有经验的大山雀对翅膀色素沉着的颜色或大小没有偏好。然后，大山雀反复暴露于具有大或小翼片尺寸的奖励翅膀。当这些经验丰富的鸟类第一次接触两种尺寸的翅膀补丁时，它们往往更喜欢带有大补丁的翅膀，无论他们以前的经历如何。我们的结果表明，捕食者的选择是基于特征与奖励的初始关联，然后是对超常刺激的偏好，这可能是由于更大的感官刺激。我们根据先前对田间条件下豆娘捕食风险的估计，讨论了我们实验室结果的影响。