When perfection isn't enough: host egg signatures are an effective defence against high-fidelity African cuckoo mimicry.

ABSTRACT: Most mimicry systems involve imperfect mimicry, whereas perfect and high-fidelity mimicry are rare. When the fidelity of mimicry is high, mimics might be expected to have the upper hand against their antagonists. However, in coevolving systems, diversification of model phenotypes may provide an evolutionary escape, because mimics cannot simultaneously match all model individuals in the population. Here we investigate high-fidelity mimicry in a highly specialized, Afrotropical brood parasite-host system: the African cuckoo and fork-tailed drongo. Specifically, we test whether host egg polymorphisms are an effective defence against such mimicry. We show, using a combination of image analysis, field experiments and simulations, that: (1) egg colour and pattern mimicry of fork-tailed drongo eg

SUBMITTER: Lund J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10369021 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature