Color Morph Variation in Two Brood Parasites: Common Cuckoo and Lesser Cuckoo

Noh, Hee-Jin; Lee, Jinwon; Yoo, Jeong‐Chil

doi:10.2326/osj.15.109

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Thus, gray females appear to suffer more severely from excessive mating attempts by persistent males than did rufous females. Rufous female cuckoos are extremely rare in our study populations 50 ; thus, these male responses are clearly not consistent with the prediction from the previous hypotheses based on the coevolutionary perspective, which predicts that males should prefer a rarer morph, the rufous one in our study. Instead, observed male preference for female color morph was consistent with that expected from the harassment avoidance hypothesis; that is, rufous plumages may help reduce extreme male harassments.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Such frequency-dependent fitness trade-offs between alternative morphs might maintain their relative frequency at some equilibrium point, given no other selection pressures. In our study populations, where rufous females are extremely rare 50 , the learned mate recognition hypothesis predicts that male cuckoos should prefer to mate with the gray females. Key differences from the juvenile mimicry hypothesis are that this hypothesis considers the rufous morph to be a simply different form from the gray morph, with no frequency-independent costs/benefits according to color (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Our experiments also showed that some female cuckoos respond aggressively to the presence of other females. It would be interesting to see how much female-female competition can explain the evolution of plumage polymorphism in cuckoos 50 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, previous hypotheses based on the coevolutionary perspective predict that males should prefer the rarer morph in a population (the rufous morph in our population), because the rarer morph has more chance of parasitism success and, thus, more fitness benefits 41,42,49 . In contrast, the harassment avoidance hypothesis predicts that compared to gray morphs, rufous females should receive less sexual attention from males because of their juvenile appearance and/or associated costs 32,50 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Common cuckoo females may escape male sexual harassment by color polymorphism

Lee

Kim

Yoo

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Sexual conflict over mating rate is widely regarded as a selective force on the evolution of female-limited color polymorphism in invertebrates, such as damselflies and butterflies. However, evidence confirming its use in higher vertebrates remains limited. The common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus , is an avian brood parasite that does not provide parental care and represents a rare example of female-limited polymorphism in higher vertebrates. Specifically, males exhibit a monomorphic gray morph, while females are either gray or rufous colored, like juveniles. To test a prediction from the hypothesis that the rufous plumage of female cuckoos may help avoid excessive sexual harassment by males (the harassment avoidance hypothesis), we investigate color morph preference in male cuckoos. Mate choice experiments using playbacks of female calls with decoys mimicking both color morphs indicated that the attracted males immediately copulated with decoys without courtship displays, recognizing both color morphs as a sexual partner. However, the males attempted to copulate more frequently and excessively with the gray morph, which is consistent with the prediction from the harassment avoidance hypothesis. We propose that the absence of parental care augments sexual conflict over mating in cuckoos, resulting in the unusual evolution of female-limited polymorphism in this higher vertebrate.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Common cuckoo females may escape male sexual harassment by color polymorphism

Lee

Kim

Yoo

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…However, the rufous morph was extremely rare in Korea and was practically lacking from many areas (e.g. it was represented by none of 18 females studied by Noh et al 2016), and so, at that site, it probably represented an entirely novel colour variant when tested with male common cuckoos. Although male cuckoos in our study did not attempt to copulate with female models, the similar intensity of responses to both colour morphs of female adults was consistent with Lee et al's (2019) prediction based on their sexual harassment hypothesis for a population without any "rare" morphs present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Female-female aggression and male responses to the two colour morphs of female common cuckoos

Moskát

Hauber

Růžičková

et al. 2020

Sci Nat

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Female-only colour polymorphism is rare in birds, but occurs in brood parasitic cuckoos (Cuculidae). Obligate brood parasites leave incubation and parental care to other species (hosts), so female-female interactions can play a role in how parasites guard critical resources (host nests) within their laying areas. The plumage of adult female common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) is either rufous (typically rare) or grey (common), whereas adult male conspecifics are monochromatic (grey). In previous studies, hosts and conspecific males responded with less intensity toward the rare female morph in support of a negative frequency-dependent benefit of female plumage polychromatism. Here, we assessed responses of both conspecific females and males to vocal playbacks of female calls, coupled with one of two 3D models of the different morphs of female cuckoos. At our study population, the rufous female morph was as common as the grey morph; therefore, we predicted similarly high rates of conspecific responses in both treatments. Both female and male cuckoos responded to playbacks acoustically, which demonstrated the primary role of acoustic communication in social interactions amongst cuckoos. Following this, some cuckoos flew closer to the models to inspect them visually. As predicted, no significant differences were detected between the live cuckoos' responses toward the two colour morphs in this population. We conclude that dichromatism in female cuckoos evolved to serve one or more functions other than conspecific signalling.

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Video evidence that cuckoos farm their hosts by ejecting nestlings

Zhang,

Santema,

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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When host nests are scarce, avian brood parasites would benefit from behaviours that increase the availability of suitable nests. Several studies reported ejection of host nestlings from nests by brood parasites; however, whether brood parasites do so to induce the host to re‐nest and thus increase opportunities for future parasitism (i.e. ‘farming’ behaviour) remains unclear. Here, we report observational evidence of farming behaviour by a common cuckoo Cuculus canorus female in a Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus population: (1) the cuckoo destroyed a host nest by ejecting all nestlings, (2) the host then produced a new nest and (3) the cuckoo successfully parasitized the replacement nest. We suggest that farming behaviour may be more common, but often goes undetected because it requires intense nest monitoring.

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Color Morph Variation in Two Brood Parasites: Common Cuckoo and Lesser Cuckoo

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Common cuckoo females may escape male sexual harassment by color polymorphism

Common cuckoo females may escape male sexual harassment by color polymorphism

Female-female aggression and male responses to the two colour morphs of female common cuckoos

Video evidence that cuckoos farm their hosts by ejecting nestlings

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