ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2012
Host-parasite coevolution beyond the nestling stage? Mimicry of host fledglings by the specialist screaming cowbird.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Host-Specific Vocal Similarity in Fledgling Levaillant's Cuckoos and Babblers in West Africa.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Anthropogenic Habitat Loss and Fragmentation May Alter Coevolutionary Progress as Examined in a Brood Parasitism Model.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Lack of response to conspecific juvenile vocalizations in two avian brood parasites.Current zoology · 2024Article
- Nest architecture influences host use by avian brood parasites and is shaped by coevolutionary dynamics.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- The overlooked complexity of avian brood parasite-host relationships.Ecology letters · 2022Review
- Host community-wide patterns of post-fledging behavior and survival of obligate brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds.Oecologia · 2022Article
- Imperfect mimicry of host begging calls by a brood parasitic cuckoo: a cue for nestling rejection by hosts?Current zoology · 2021Article
- Discrimination and ejection of eggs and nestlings by the fan-tailed gerygone from New Caledonia.Current zoology · 2021Article
- From micro- to macroevolution: brood parasitism as a driver of phenotypic diversity in birds.Current zoology · 2020Article
- How to learn to recognize conspecific brood parasitic offspring.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Avian egg and nestling detection in the wild: should we rely on visual models or behavioural experiments?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- How to Make a Mimic? Brood Parasitic Striped Cuckoo Eggs Match Host Shell Color but Not Pigment Concentrations.Journal of chemical ecology · 2018Article
- Evolutionary origins of vocal mimicry in songbirds.Evolution letters · 2018Article
- Parasite avoidance behaviours in aquatic environments.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Visual discrimination of polymorphic nestlings in a cuckoo-host system.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- True recognition of nestlings by hosts selects for mimetic cuckoo chicks.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Colour, vision and coevolution in avian brood parasitism.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Review
- Evidence for aggressive mimicry in an adult brood parasitic bird, and generalized defences in its host.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2015Article
- The costs of avian brood parasitism explain variation in egg rejection behaviour in hosts.Biology letters · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Egg mimicry by obligate avian brood parasites and host rejection of non-mimetic eggs are well-known textbook examples of host-parasite coevolution. By contrast, reciprocal adaptations and counteradaptations beyond the egg stage in brood parasites and their hosts have received less attention. The screaming cowbird (Molothrus rufoaxillaris) is a specialist obligate brood parasite whose fledglings look identical to those of its primary host, the baywing (Agelaioides badius). Such a resemblance has been proposed as an adaptation in response to host discrimination against odd-looking young, but evidence supporting this idea is scarce. Here, we examined this hypothesis by comparing the survival rates of young screaming cowbirds and non-mimetic shiny cowbirds (Molothrus bonariensis) cross-fostered to baywing nests and quantifying the similarity in plumage colour and begging calls between host and cowbird fledglings. Shiny cowbirds suffered higher post-fledging mortality rates (83%) than screaming cowbirds (0%) owing to host rejection. Visual modelling revealed that screaming cowbirds, but not shiny cowbirds, were indistinguishable from host young in plumage colour. Similarly, screaming cowbirds matched baywings' begging calls more closely than shiny cowbirds. Our results strongly support the occurrence of host fledgling mimicry in screaming cowbirds and suggest a role of visual and vocal cues in fledgling discrimination by baywings.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.