The sight of an adult brood parasite near the nest is an insufficient cue for a honeyguide host to reject foreign eggs.

ABSTRACT: Hosts of brood-parasitic birds typically evolve anti-parasitism defences, including mobbing of parasitic intruders at the nest and the ability to recognize and reject foreign eggs from their clutches. The Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator is a virulent brood parasite that punctures host eggs and kills host young, and accordingly, a common host, the Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus frequently rejects entire clutches that have been parasitized. We predicted that given the high costs of accidentally rejecting an entire clutch, and that the experimental addition of a foreign egg is insufficient to induce this defence, Bee-eaters require the sight of an adult parasite near the nest as an additional cue for parasitism before they reject a clutch. We found that many Little Bee-

SUBMITTER: Tong W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4540150 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature