scholarly journals A brood parasite selects for its own egg traits

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 20130573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire N. Spottiswoode
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Interference Competition ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Host Nest ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Parasitic Female ◽  
Egg Traits

Many brood parasitic birds lay eggs that mimic their hosts' eggs in appearance. This typically arises from selection from discriminating hosts that reject eggs which differ from their own. However, selection on parasitic eggs may also arise from parasites themselves, because it should pay a laying parasitic female to detect and destroy another parasitic egg previously laid in the same host nest by a different female. In this study, I experimentally test the source of selection on greater honeyguide ( Indicator indicator ) egg size and shape, which is correlated with that of its several host species, all of which breed in dark holes. Its commonest host species did not discriminate against experimental eggs that differed from their own in size and shape, but laying female honeyguides preferentially punctured experimental eggs more than host or control eggs. This should improve offspring survival given that multiple parasitism by this species is common, and that honeyguide chicks kill all other nest occupants. Hence, selection on egg size in greater honeyguides parasitizing bee-eaters appears to be imposed not by host defences but by interference competition among parasites themselves.

Repeatability of size and shape of American Pipit eggs

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 2624-2628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Hendricks
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Genotypic Variance ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Coefficients Of Variation ◽  
Egg Traits ◽  
The Difference

Variation in size and shape of American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) eggs was studied from 1987 to 1989 at two sites in the Beartooth Mountains, Park County, Wyoming. Differences in four egg traits were detected within clutches among females for all years and at both sites; there were differences between years and sites as well. Coefficients of variation for clutch means ranged from 1.52 (breadth) to 5.02 (volume). Mean repeatability estimates (± SD) of four independent samples were 0.75 ± 0.05, 0.64 ± 0.08, 0.70 ± 0.10, and 0.70 ± 0.08 for length, breadth, volume, and elongation, respectively, suggesting a significant heritable component in the phenotypic variation of egg size and shape. The difference between mean length and breadth repeatabilities was significant (P < 0.02). Repeatabilities of volume were the most variable of all traits and varied between years by as much as 22%, and between sites in 1989 by as much as 19%. Site differences are probably due to local environmental effects, and not a result of differences in the underlying genotypic variance. Repeatability estimates for American Pipit eggs were similar to those for a variety of bird species breeding in very different habitats. However, repeatability estimates can be calculated several ways and caution should be used when comparing estimates until it can be shown that these estimates are comparable for the same population.

Studies on egg shell strength, shell stiffness, shell quantity, egg size and shape

1968 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Tung ◽  
L. M. Staley ◽  
J. F. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Egg Shell

scholarly journals A dataset of egg size and shape from more than 6,700 insect species

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Church ◽  
Seth Donoughe ◽  
Bruno A. S. de Medeiros ◽  
Cassandra G. Extavour
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Size And Shape

scholarly journals Insect egg size and shape evolve with ecology but not developmental rate

Nature ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 571 (7763) ◽  
pp. 58-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Church ◽  
Seth Donoughe ◽  
Bruno A. S. de Medeiros ◽  
Cassandra G. Extavour
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Developmental Rate ◽  
Insect Egg ◽  
Size And Shape

XIX.—“ Spheroidal”: A Mutant in Drosophila funebris affecting Egg Size and Shape, and Fecundity

1938 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 255-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. E. Crew ◽  
Charlotte Auerbach
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Morphological Aspect ◽  
New Mutation ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Egg Shape

In the course of a study of fecundity in Drosophila funebris (Donald and Lamy, 1937), it was noted that a particular female was laying very few eggs, and that the shape of these was peculiar. Among her descendants other females of similarly low fecundity and laying eggs of the same abnormal shape were encountered, and it was assumed therefore that a mutation affecting fecundity and egg shape had been recognised. In this paper evidence concerning the type of heredity of these characteristics is presented, and a statistical description of the morphological aspect of the new mutation, the size and shape of the egg, as compared with those of the normal D. funebris egg, is given.

Intraclutch egg-size variation and offspring survival in the Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus

Ibis ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUAN A. AMAT ◽  
ROSENDO M. FRAGA ◽  
GONZALO M. ARROYO
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Charadrius Alexandrinus ◽  
Kentish Plover

scholarly journals A consistent long-lasting pattern of spatial variation in egg size and shape in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirosława Bańbura ◽  
Michał Glądalski ◽  
Adam Kaliński ◽  
Marcin Markowski ◽  
Joanna Skwarska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Variation ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Blue Tits

scholarly journals Consequences of Egg Size for Offspring Survival: A Cross-Fostering Experiment in Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura Jamaicensis)

The Auk ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-393
Author(s):  
Jeffrey T. Pelayo ◽  
Robert G. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Hatching Date ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Maternal Influences ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Duck Species ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Ruddy Ducks ◽  
Cross Fostering ◽  
Oxyura Jamaicensis

Abstract In birds, large egg size often enhances subsequent offspring survival, but most previous studies have been unable to separate effects of egg size from other maternal influences. Therefore, we first evaluated variance components of egg size both within and among individual female Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), and then tested for egg-size-dependent survival of ducklings in the wild by switching complete broods among females. Forty broods consisting of 244 individually color-marked, day-old ducklings of known egg size were given to foster mothers, and survival was monitored to one month. Analysis of mark–resighting data showed that offspring survival was best modeled to include effects of egg size and hatching date; survival probability increased with egg size, but declined with advancing hatching date. Duckling body mass, body size, and body condition measured at hatching were positively correlated with egg size. Unlike most other duck species, and for reasons that are speculative, egg sizes varied within clutches nearly as much as they did among clutches. Selective mortality of small egg phenotypes during the first weeks after hatching likely is the result of smaller duckling size and reduced energy reserves, characteristics that must be particularly unfavorable in adverse environments.

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