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Related Experiment Videos

Cryptic cuckoo eggs hide from competing cuckoos.

Ros Gloag1, Laurie-Anne Keller2, Naomi E Langmore2

  • 1Division of Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Building 116, Daley Road, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia ros.gloag@sydney.edu.au.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|August 15, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Cuckoo birds use cryptic, camouflaged eggs to avoid removal by hosts. Competition between cuckoos, not host-parasite mimicry, drives this egg crypsis evolution.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Ornithology

Background:

  • Brood parasites like cuckoos engage in interspecific arms races with hosts.
  • Egg mimicry is a common strategy for cuckoos to evade host detection and egg rejection.
  • Some cuckoo species, however, utilize cryptic eggs instead of mimetic ones.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if cuckoo egg crypsis evolved from the same coevolutionary processes driving egg mimicry.
  • To determine the selective pressures favoring cryptic versus mimetic cuckoo eggs.

Main Methods:

  • Painted model eggs (high and low luminance) were introduced into the nests of the large-billed gerygone (Gerygone magnirostris).
  • Host rejection rates of model eggs and natural cuckoo eggs were recorded.
Keywords:
bronze-cuckoobrood parasitismcrypsisevolutionary arms racemultiple parasitism

Related Experiment Videos

  • Cuckoo removal rates of high versus low luminance model eggs were compared.

    • Main Results:

    • Large-billed gerygones rarely rejected either high or low luminance model eggs, or natural cuckoo eggs.
    • Cuckoos were significantly more likely to remove high luminance model eggs than low luminance ones.
    • Multiple cuckoo parasitism was observed in one-third of nests.

    Conclusions:

    • Intraspecific competition among cuckoos, rather than interspecific host-parasite coevolution, appears to be the primary driver for the evolution of egg crypsis.
    • Egg crypsis may offer an advantage over mimicry in scenarios with high levels of brood parasite competition, reducing egg removal risk below chance levels.