| 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 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 bish ... | 2015 | 26063850 |
| repeated targeting of the same hosts by a brood parasite compromises host egg rejection. | cuckoo eggs famously mimic those of their foster parents to evade rejection from discriminating hosts. here we test whether parasites benefit by repeatedly parasitizing the same host nest. this should make accurate rejection decisions harder, regardless of the mechanism that hosts use to identify foreign eggs. here we find strong support for this prediction in the african tawny-flanked prinia (prinia subflava), the most common host of the cuckoo finch (anomalospiza imberbis). we show experimenta ... | 2013 | 24064931 |
| host-parasite arms races and rapid changes in bird egg appearance. | coevolutionary arms races are a powerful force driving evolution, adaptation, and diversification. they can generate phenotypic polymorphisms that render it harder for a coevolving parasite or predator to exploit any one individual of a given species. in birds, egg polymorphisms should be an effective defense against mimetic brood parasites and are extreme in the african tawny-flanked prinia (prinia subflava) and its parasite, the cuckoo finch (anomalospiza imberbis). here we use models of avian ... | 2012 | 22504545 |
| chewing lice (phthiraptera) from wild birds in senegal, with descriptions of three new species of the genera brueelia and philopteroides. | a total of 170 wild birds from senegal, belonging to 48 species and 9 orders, were searched for lice in 2005 and 2007. chewing lice were found on 58 birds of 18 species and 5 orders (columbiformes, cuculiformes, coraciiformes, galliformes and passeriformes). twenty-two species of chewing lice of 13 genera were determined. other nine samples of chewing lice that represent a new host-parasite association were determined at generic level only, because only one sex or nymph of these lice were found. ... | 2012 | 22807019 |
| higher-level pattern features provide additional information to birds when recognizing and rejecting parasitic eggs. | despite a recent explosion of research on pattern recognition, in both neuroscience and computer vision, we lack a basic understanding of how most animals perceive and respond to patterns in the wild. avian brood parasites and their hosts provide an ideal study system for investigating the mechanisms of pattern recognition. the cuckoo finch, anomalospiza imberbis, and its host the tawny-flanked prinia, prinia subflava, lay highly polymorphic eggs with a great deal of variation in colour and patt ... | 2019 | 30967078 |