Premium
Large Hawk‐Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides parasitism on the Chinese Babax Babax lanceolatus may be an evolutionarily recent host–parasite system
Author(s) -
YANG CANCHAO,
ANTONOV ANTON,
CAI YAN,
STOKKE BÅRD G.,
MOKSNES ARNE,
RØSKAFT EIVIN,
LIANG WEI
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.2011.01192.x
Subject(s) - brood parasite , cuckoo , parasitism , biology , host (biology) , zoology , parasite hosting , ecology , world wide web , computer science
We documented brood parasitism by the poorly studied Large Hawk‐Cuckoo on a previously unknown host species, the Chinese Babax. Furthermore, we describe a new egg colour for the Large Hawk‐Cuckoo. The parasitism rate of Chinese Babax nests over 4 years was 6.9% (11 of 159 nests), with significant temporal variation. The Large Hawk‐Cuckoo laid immaculate white eggs that appeared non‐mimetic to the blue Babax eggs, an impression that was confirmed by avian visual modelling. Nevertheless, most Cuckoo eggs were accepted by the host, suggesting that this host–parasite system may be evolutionarily recent.