Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host

Mimicry of a harmless model (aggressive mimicry) is used by egg, chick and fledgling brood parasites that resemble the host's own eggs, chicks and fledglings. However, aggressive mimicry may also evolve in adult brood parasites, to avoid attack from hosts and/or manipulate their perception of p...

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Autores principales: Feeney, W. E., Troscianko, J., Langmore, N. E., Spottiswoode, C. N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590487/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26063850
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0795
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author Feeney, W. E.
Troscianko, J.
Langmore, N. E.
Spottiswoode, C. N.
author_facet Feeney, W. E.
Troscianko, J.
Langmore, N. E.
Spottiswoode, C. N.
author_sort Feeney, W. E.
collection PubMed
description Mimicry of a harmless model (aggressive mimicry) is used by egg, chick and fledgling brood parasites that resemble the host's own eggs, chicks and fledglings. However, aggressive mimicry may also evolve in adult brood parasites, to avoid attack from hosts and/or manipulate their perception of parasitism risk. We tested the hypothesis that female cuckoo finches (Anomalospiza imberbis) are aggressive mimics of female Euplectes weavers, such as the harmless, abundant and sympatric southern red bishop (Euplectes orix). We show that female cuckoo finch plumage colour and pattern more closely resembled those of Euplectes weavers (putative models) than Vidua finches (closest relatives); that their tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava) hosts were equally aggressive towards female cuckoo finches and southern red bishops, and more aggressive to both than to their male counterparts; and that prinias were equally likely to reject an egg after seeing a female cuckoo finch or bishop, and more likely to do so than after seeing a male bishop near their nest. This is, to our knowledge, the first quantitative evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult bird, and suggests that host–parasite coevolution can select for aggressive mimicry by avian brood parasites, and counter-defences by hosts, at all stages of the reproductive cycle.
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spelling pubmed-45904872015-10-13 Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host Feeney, W. E. Troscianko, J. Langmore, N. E. Spottiswoode, C. N. Proc Biol Sci Research Articles Mimicry of a harmless model (aggressive mimicry) is used by egg, chick and fledgling brood parasites that resemble the host's own eggs, chicks and fledglings. However, aggressive mimicry may also evolve in adult brood parasites, to avoid attack from hosts and/or manipulate their perception of parasitism risk. We tested the hypothesis that female cuckoo finches (Anomalospiza imberbis) are aggressive mimics of female Euplectes weavers, such as the harmless, abundant and sympatric southern red bishop (Euplectes orix). We show that female cuckoo finch plumage colour and pattern more closely resembled those of Euplectes weavers (putative models) than Vidua finches (closest relatives); that their tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava) hosts were equally aggressive towards female cuckoo finches and southern red bishops, and more aggressive to both than to their male counterparts; and that prinias were equally likely to reject an egg after seeing a female cuckoo finch or bishop, and more likely to do so than after seeing a male bishop near their nest. This is, to our knowledge, the first quantitative evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult bird, and suggests that host–parasite coevolution can select for aggressive mimicry by avian brood parasites, and counter-defences by hosts, at all stages of the reproductive cycle. The Royal Society 2015-07-07 /pmc/articles/PMC4590487/ /pubmed/26063850 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0795 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2015 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Feeney, W. E.
Troscianko, J.
Langmore, N. E.
Spottiswoode, C. N.
Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
title Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
title_full Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
title_fullStr Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
title_full_unstemmed Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
title_short Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
title_sort evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590487/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26063850
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0795
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