Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Moksnes, Arne
• Røskaft, Eivin
• Rudolfsen, Geir
• Skjelseth, Sigrun
• G. Stokke, Bård
• Kleven, Oddmund
• Lisle Gibbs, H.
• Honza, Marcel
• Taborsky, Barbara
• Teuschl, Yvonne
• Vogl, Wolfgang
• Taborsky, Michael

Titel

Individual female common cuckoos Cuculus canorus lay constant egg types but egg appearance cannot be used to assign eggs to females

Ist Teil von

• Journal of avian biology, 2008-03, Vol.39 (2), p.238-241

Ort / Verlag

Copenhagen: Copenhagen : Munksgaard

Erscheinungsjahr

2008

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library Journals Frontfile Complete

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Females of the obligate brood parasitic common cuckoo Cuculus canorus are assumed to lay eggs of consistent colour and pattern and egg characteristics have been used to separate between different individuals. We tested the "constant egg-type hypothesis" in blind tests using test persons who grouped cuckoo eggs into "potential clutches" based on similarity in appearance. A correct classification of eggs laid by known (radiotagged) females supported the hypothesis. However, comparisons between maternity based on visual assessments and DNA-based parentage analyses revealed rather poor concordance between the two methods. Our findings indicate that egg characteristics cannot be used to separate between cuckoo females, even if they lay eggs with constant appearance. The reason is probably that there are only small or negligible variations in egg appearance between some females like mothers and daughters or other closely related individuals.