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 …

A fundamental principle of Batesian mimicry is that it pays to look like a local harmful species
that is recognizable to other local species (receivers). Mimicking an allopatric species …

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 …

Theoretical work has long stressed the need of studying in concert defenses based on
resistance (ie, mechanisms minimizing the frequency of effective parasite attacks) and …

Highlights•Cowbirds attack and cause a significant amount of failure in nonparasitized host
nests.•Females caused greater destruction in late-stage nests than in early-stage …

Many passerine birds lay white eggs with reddish brown speckles produced by
protoporphyrin pigment. However, the function of these spots is contested. Recently, the …

Coconut crabs (Birgus latro) are strikingly variable in coloration, but the significance of this
colour diversity has never been investigated. We studied coloration, morphology, behaviour …

Unprofitable prey with conspicuous warning signals are often mimicked by other species,
which then gain protection from predators. How closely two mimetic species resemble one …

Camouflage is a common tactic to avoid detection or recognition by predators and prey.
Flounders have adaptive camouflage but a limited body pattern repertoire. We tested …

Parasitic cuckoos lay their eggs in nests of host species. Rejection of cuckoo eggs by hosts
has led to the evolution of egg mimicry by cuckoos, whereby their eggs mimic the colour and …