THE RED GAPE OF THE NESTLING CUCKOO (CUCULUS CANORUS) IS NOT A SUPERNORMAL STIMULUS FOR THREE COMMON HOSTS

AbstractThe bright red gape of the nestling common cuckoo Cuculus canorus has often been supposed to act as a supernormal stimulus to elicit provisioning from its foster parents. Parents of three main host species were tested for their response to their own nestlings with artificially reddened gapes. Robins, dunnocks and reed warblers allocated no more food to red-mouthed nestlings than to control nestlings in the same nest, and manipulations of the gape colour of whole broods of reed warblers revealed no effect on provisioning rates. Our data do not support the hypothesis that there is a universal parental preference for redder gapes in opennesting passerines, or that the bright red gape of nestling cuckoos has evolved to exploit parental preferences in these three hosts. We suggest that although mouth colour has little influence on the allocation of feeds resulting from sibling competition and begging intensity in these species, it may have a role under certain conditions.

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Heterospecific alarm-call recognition in two warbler hosts of common cuckoos

Animal Cognition ◽

10.1007/s10071-019-01307-9 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 1149-1157 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jiangping Yu ◽

Hailin Lu ◽

Wei Sun ◽

Wei Liang ◽

Haitao Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alarm Call ◽

Alarm Calls ◽

Reed Warbler ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Playback Experiments ◽

Call Recognition ◽

Accipiter Nisus ◽

Main Host ◽

The Common

Abstract Species facing similar selection pressures should recognize heterospecific alarm signals. However, no study has so far examined heterospecific alarm-call recognition in response to parasitism by cuckoos. In this study, we tested whether two sympatric host species of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis (ORW, main host), and black-browed reed warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps (BRW, rare host), could recognize each other’s alarm calls in response to cuckoos. Dummies of common cuckoo (parasite) and Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (predator) were used to induce and record alarm calls of the two warbler species, respectively. In the conspecific alarm-call playback experiments, ORW responded more strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls, while BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls. In the heterospecific alarm-call playback experiments, both ORW and BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than sparrowhawk alarm calls. BRW seemed to learn the association between parasite-related alarm calls of the ORW and the cuckoo by observing the process of ORW attacking cuckoos. In contrast, alarm calls of BRW to cuckoos were rarely recorded in most cases. BRW with low parasite pressure still developed recognition of heterospecific parasite-related alarm call. Unintended receivers in the same community should recognize heterospecific alarm calls precisely to extract valuable information.

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Spatial variation in egg polymorphism among cuckoo hosts across 4 continents

Current Zoology ◽

10.1093/cz/zoaa011 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (5) ◽

pp. 477-483 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Canchao Yang ◽

Xingfeng Si ◽

Wei Liang ◽

Anders Pape Møller

Keyword(s):

Spatial Variation ◽

Host Species ◽

Brood Parasitism ◽

Selection Pressure ◽

Color Polymorphism ◽

Spatial Variations ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

The Common ◽

Host Families

Abstract Although egg color polymorphism has evolved as an effective defensive adaptation to brood parasitism, spatial variations in egg color polymorphism remain poorly characterized. Here, we investigated egg polymorphism in 647 host species (68 families and 231 genera) parasitized by 41 species of Old Word cuckoos (1 family and 11 genera) across Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The diversity of parasitic cuckoos differs among continents, reflecting the continent-specific intensities of parasitic selection pressure on hosts. Therefore, host egg polymorphism is expected to evolve more frequently on continents with higher cuckoo diversity. We identified egg polymorphism in 24.1% of all host species and 47.6% of all host families. The common cuckoo Cuculus canorus utilized 184 hosts (28.4% of all host species). Hosts of the common cuckoo and of Chrysococcyx species were more likely to have polymorphic eggs than hosts parasitized by other cuckoos. Both the number of host species and the host families targeted by the cuckoo species were positively correlated with the frequency of host egg polymorphism. Most host species and most hosts exhibiting egg color polymorphism were located in Asia and Africa. Host egg polymorphism was observed less frequently in Australia and Europe. Our results also suggested that egg polymorphism tends to occur more frequently in hosts that are utilized by several cuckoo species or by generalist cuckoo species. We suggest that selection pressure on hosts from a given continent increases proportionally to the number of cuckoo species, and that this selection pressure may, in turn, favor the evolution of host egg polymorphism.

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The thick-billed warbler (Phragamaticola aedon, passeriformes, Acrocephalidae) as a host species for the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus, Cuculiformes, Cuculidae) in the middle Amur River basin

Biology Bulletin ◽

10.1134/s1062359016070104 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 43 (7) ◽

pp. 685-692

Author(s):

P. V. Kvartalnov ◽

L. V. Kapitonova

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Host Species ◽

Amur River Basin ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Amur River ◽

The Common

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Nest Size Matters: Common Cuckoos Prefer to Parasitize Larger Nests of Oriental Reed Warblers

10.21203/rs.3.rs-204677/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Longwu Wang ◽

Gangbin He ◽

Canchao Yang ◽

Anders Pape Møller ◽

Wei Liang

Keyword(s):

Foster Parents ◽

Nest Size ◽

Reed Warbler ◽

Artificial Nest ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Brood Parasites ◽

Nest Choice ◽

Experimental Findings ◽

Large Host

Abstract BackgroundAvian brood parasites leave parental care of their offspring to foster parents. Theory predicts that parasites should select for large host nests when they have sufficient available host nests at a given time. We developed an empirical experimental design to address this hypothesis by studying nest choice of common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) among nests of its Oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) hosts.ResultsWe presented two groups of experimental nests: 1) nest dyads comprise one large and one small artificial nest from reed leaves, and 2) nest triads tied together use the modified old own warbler nests including enlarged, reduced and medium sized nests to elicit parasitism by common cuckoos. We predicted that cuckoos prefer larger nests over medium sized ones, and over the smallest nest. Our experimental findings show that common cuckoo females generally prefer large nests over medium or small sized nests. Furthermore, experiments showed that cuckoo parasitism was significantly more common than in previous studies of the same warbler population.ConclusionsOur results implying that larger, taller and more exposed host nests effectively increased the probability of cuckoo parasitism.

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Cuckoo chicks evicting their nest mates: coincidental observations by Edward Jenner in England and Antoine Joseph Lottinger in France

Archives of Natural History ◽

10.3366/anh.2011.0030 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 220-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Spencer G. Sealy ◽

Mélanie F. Guigueno

Keyword(s):

Royal Society ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Cuckoo Chick ◽

The Common ◽

Made In ◽

Royal Society Of London

For centuries, naturalists were aware that soon after hatching the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) chick became the sole occupant of the fosterer's nest. Most naturalists thought the adult cuckoo returned to the nest and removed or ate the fosterer's eggs and young, or the cuckoo chick crowded its nest mates out of the nest. Edward Jenner published the first description of cuckoo chicks evicting eggs and young over the side of the nest. Jenner's observations, made in England in 1786 and 1787, were published by the Royal Society of London in 1788. Four years before Jenner's observations, in 1782, Antoine Joseph Lottinger recorded eviction behaviour in France and published his observations in Histoire du coucou d'Europe, in 1795. The importance of Lottinger's and Jenner's observations is considered together.

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Light or presence of host trees: which is more important for the strangler fig?

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467499001030 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 589-602 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Vidya R. Athreya

Keyword(s):

Host Species ◽

National Park ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Light Level ◽

Southern India ◽

Evergreen Forest ◽

Primary Forest ◽

Light Levels ◽

Host Trees ◽

Main Host

Strangler fig density varied considerably in the evergreen forest of Karian Shola National Park, southern India, with 11 individuals ha−1 in an open trail area and 5.6 individuals ha−1 within the primary forest area. The index of light level was assessed by estimating the percentage of upper canopy cover along the longitudinal centre of ten, 500-m × 20-m plots in each of the two areas of the evergreen forest. However, the increase in strangler fig density was not correlated to light levels but was significantly correlated to the numbers of their main host species in the two areas. In Karian Shola National Park, strangler figs occurred predominantly on a few host species with 20 and 50% of strangler figs growing on Vitex altissima, Diospyros bourdilloni and Eugenia/Syzygium spp. in the primary forest and trail areas respectively. Both young and established strangler figs were recorded mainly on larger individuals of their host trees indicating that older host trees are likely to be more suitable for the germination and establishment of strangler figs. The reason for the above could be the higher incidence of humus-filled and decaying regions in the older host trees which would provide an assured supply of nutrients for the establishing strangler fig.

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