The optimal acceptance threshold hypothesis provides a general predictive framework for
testing behavioural responses to discrimination challenges. Decision-makers should …

The coevolutionary interactions between avian brood parasites and their hosts provide a
powerful system for investigating the diversity of animal coloration. Specifically, reciprocal …

Avian brood parasites reduce the reproductive success of their hosts, selecting for the
evolution of egg discrimination by the host, and potentially creating a coevolutionary arms …

Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in other birds' nests and impose considerable fitness
costs on their hosts. Historically and scientifically, the best studied example of circumventing …

Coevolution between antagonistic species has produced instances of exquisite mimicry.
Among brood-parasitic cuckoos, host defences have driven the evolution of mimetic eggs …

Common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) parasitism drastically reduces the reproductive success
of their hosts and selects for host discrimination of cuckoo eggs. In a second stage of anti …

The coevolutionary arms race between cuckoos and their hosts has famously yielded
cuckoo eggs that evade host recognition and rejection by mimicking the appearance of the …

Background Trait polymorphism can evolve as a consequence of frequency-dependent
selection. Coevolutionary interactions between hosts and parasites may lead to selection on …

Broad ecological shifts can render previously adaptive traits nonfunctional. It is an open
question as to how and how quickly nonfunctional traits decay once the selective pressures …

Much attention has been devoted to understanding the evolution of egg mimicry in avian
brood parasites. The majority of studies have been based on human perception when …