Coevolution of the Cuckoo and its Hosts

Davies, N. B.; Brooke, M. L. de

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0191-92

Cited by 27 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of gentes (Lack 1968;Wyllie 1981;Moksnes and Røskaft 1987;Honza et al 2001) and related host selection by cuckoos (e.g. Davies and Brooke 1991;Moksnes and Røskaft 1995;Teuschl et al 1998;Cherry and Bennett 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Choosing suitable hosts: common cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitize great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus of high quality

et al. 2008

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We investigated the hypothesis that the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus selects host pairs of good phenotypic quality. As there is some evidence that cuckoos may select hosts within a population non-randomly based on external cues reflecting their foster abilities, we predicted that great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus pairs parasitized by the cuckoo would exhibit higher quality than unparasitized ones. To test this assumption, we evaluated two different parameters indicating host quality: body condition and characteristics of host eggs. We found that parasitized females showed significantly better body condition than unparasitized ones, and the model showed that the probability of being parasitized by the cuckoos increased with increasing body condition. Moreover, the likelihood of being parasitized by a cuckoo within the great reed warbler population increased with decreasing colour variability within clutches: parasitized females allocated costly blue pigments to eggshells more equally compared with unparasitized ones. Our study revealed that cuckoos parasitize great reed warbler females of higher quality, as reflected in host body condition and egg colour characteristics. In highly mimetic systems, cuckoos may choose to parasitize hosts with eggs displaying low intraclutch variation, both because this leads to reduced rejection and because these hosts are of high quality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Choosing suitable hosts: common cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitize great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus of high quality

et al. 2008

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“…The paper by Molnár (1944) on Cuckoo parasitism in Hungarian Great Reed Warblers is often cited as the description of one of the best cases of mimicry of spotted, non‐plain coloured Cuckoo eggs ever found (e.g. Southern 1954, Davies & Brooke 1991, Moksnes & Røskaft 1995), and the approximately 50% parasitism frequency he found is one of the highest frequencies of Cuckoo parasitism on any host species (e.g. Johnsgard 1997).…”

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confidence: 99%

European CuckooCuculus canorusparasitism and host's rejection behaviour in a heavily parasitized Great Reed WarblerAcrocephalus arundinaceuspopulation

Moskát

Honza

2002

Ibis

151

160

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An unusually high frequency (64%) of European Cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism was found in Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus clutches in central Hungary. Sixty‐four per cent of the parasitized clutches contained one Cuckoo egg, 23% contained two, 10% had three and 3% had four. This means that 58% of the Cuckoo eggs were found in multiply parasitized clutches. In multiple parasitism the laying second Cuckoo removed an egg from the clutch randomly, so preferred neither the host eggs, nor the concurrent Cuckoo egg. Host response towards the parasitic eggs showed 66% acceptance, 12% ejection, 20% desertion and 2% egg burial. We found great variation in both the host and the parasitic egg colour and pattern. This reduces the chance that the parasitic egg's appearance matched that of the hosts’ but, in spite of this, almost perfect mimesis was found in 28% of the Cuckoo eggs. Poorly mimetic Cuckoo eggs were more frequently rejected by Great Reed Warblers than parasite eggs that were very similar to the host eggs. This high level of mimicry sometimes makes it difficult for the observer to identify the parasitic egg, especially when it is similar in size to the host eggs. It is also difficult for the host, as shown by the relatively high recognition error and ejection cost.

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“…Thus, an eggshell pattern may be a ¢ngerprint-like marker, speci¢c to the host species or indeed to the individual host female. For obligate brood parasites like the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, the species speci¢city of host eggs has selected for increasingly accurate eggpattern mimicry by the cuckoo (Davies & Brooke 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inheritance and variation in eggshell patterning in the great tit Parus major

Gosler

Barnett

Reynolds

2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

126

144

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The inheritance of patterns on avian eggshells is central to understanding the evolution of traits such as egg mimicry (e.g. in cuckoos). Yet little is known about the inheritance, or indeed function, of eggshell patterns. It has long been believed that the evolution of eggshell pattern mimicry required that patterns be determined by genes situated on the female-speci¢c W chromosome. However, it has never been demonstrated for any bird that egg pattern traits (rather than ground colour) are female sex linked, or indeed that they are inherited. We studied the inheritance of three measures of egg-pigment patterns in a wild great tit population. Egg patterns were female speci¢c but unrelated to female attributes such as age or condition and showed only weak environmental e¡ects. Eggs of daughters resembled those of both their mothers and maternal grandmothers, but not of their paternal grandmothers. We conclude that this is the ¢rst demonstration of female sex-linked inheritance of avian eggshell patterning, so raising the probability that such a system operates in egg mimics and their hosts.

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Coevolution of the Cuckoo and its Hosts

Cited by 27 publications

References 0 publications

Choosing suitable hosts: common cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitize great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus of high quality

Choosing suitable hosts: common cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitize great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus of high quality

European CuckooCuculus canorusparasitism and host's rejection behaviour in a heavily parasitized Great Reed WarblerAcrocephalus arundinaceuspopulation

Inheritance and variation in eggshell patterning in the great tit Parus major

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