Continuous variation rather than specialization in the egg phenotypes of cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) parasitizing two sympatric reed warbler species.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of brood parasitism has long attracted considerable attention among behavioural ecologists, especially in the common cuckoo system. Common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) are obligatory brood parasites, laying eggs in nests of passerines and specializing on specific host species. Specialized races of cuckoos are genetically distinct. Often in a given area, cuckoos encounter multiple hosts showing substantial variation in egg morphology. Exploiting different hosts should lead to egg-phenotype specialization in cuckoos to match egg phenotypes of the hosts. Here we test this assumption using a wild population of two sympatrically occurring host species: the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and reed warbler (A. scirpaceus). Using colour spectrophotometry, egg shell dynamo

SUBMITTER: Drobniak SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4152305 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature