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- Title
The sight of an adult brood parasite near the nest is an insufficient cue for a honeyguide host to reject foreign eggs.
- Authors
Tong, Wenfei; Horrocks, Nicholas P. C.; Spottiswoode, Claire N.; Burthe, Sarah
- 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-eater parents mobbed Greater Honeyguide dummies while ignoring barbet control dummies, showing that they recognized them as a threat. Surprisingly, however, neither a dummy Honeyguide nor the presence of a foreign egg, either separately or in combination, was sufficient to stimulate egg rejection.
- Subjects
BROOD parasites; NEST predation; BIRD nests; BIRD eggs; BEE eaters
- Publication
Ibis, 2015, Vol 157, Issue 3, p626
- ISSN
0019-1019
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/ibi.12254