Arms races between avian brood parasites and their hosts often result in parasitic mimicry of
host eggs, to evade rejection. Once egg mimicry has evolved, host defences could escalate …

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 …

Background Avian brood parasites and their hosts are involved in complex offence-defense
coevolutionary arms races. The most common pair of reciprocal adaptations in these …

Interspecific brood parasitism represents a prime example of the coevolutionary arms race
where each party has evolved strategies in response to the other. Here, we investigated …

Laying a mimetic egg is important for a brood parasite to succeed in defeating the defenses
of a host that can recognize and reject nonmimetic foreign eggs. Several recent studies …

Cuckoo eggs famously mimic those of their foster parents to evade rejection from
discriminating hosts. Here we test whether parasites benefit by repeatedly parasitizing the …

One of the most striking outcomes of coevolution between species is egg mimicry by brood
parasitic birds, resulting from rejection behavior by discriminating host parents. Yet, how …

Virulence of avian brood parasites can trigger a coevolutionary arms race, which favours
rejection of parasitic eggs or chicks by host parents, and in turn leads to mimicry in parasite …

One of the most effective defenses against avian brood parasitism is the rejection of the
foreign egg from the host's nest. Until recently, most studies have tested whether hosts …

Hosts of brood-parasitic birds must distinguish their own eggs from parasitic mimics, or pay
the cost of mistakenly raising a foreign chick. Egg discrimination is easier when different host …