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Brood parasites are
animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...
s that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s,
insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...
s and
fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...
. The brood
parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson h ...
manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The evolutionary strategy relieves the
parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
parents from the investment of rearing young. This benefit comes at the cost of provoking an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve: many hosts have developed strong defenses against brood parasitism, such as recognizing and ejecting parasitic eggs, or abandoning parasitized nests and starting over. It is less obvious why most hosts do care for parasite nestlings, given that for example cuckoo chicks differ markedly from host chicks in size and appearance. One explanation, the mafia hypothesis, proposes that parasitic adults retaliate by destroying host nests where rejection has occurred; there is experimental evidence to support this. Intraspecific brood parasitism also occurs, as in many
duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
species. Here there is no visible difference between host and parasite eggs, which may be why the parasite eggs are so readily accepted. In eider ducks, the first and second eggs in a nest are especially subject to predation, perhaps explaining why they are often laid in another eider nest.


Evolutionary strategy

Brood parasitism is an evolutionary strategy that relieves the
parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
parents from the investment of rearing young or building
nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...
s for the young by getting the host to raise their young for them. This enables the parasitic parents to spend more time on other activities such as foraging and producing further
offspring In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by a single organism or, in the case of sexual reproduction, two organisms. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This ca ...
.


Adaptations for parasitism

Among specialist avian brood parasites, mimetic eggs are a nearly universal
adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
. The generalist brown-headed cowbird may have evolved an egg coloration mimicking a number of their hosts. Size may also be important for the incubation and survival of parasitic species; it may be beneficial for parasitic eggs to be similar in size to the eggs of the host species. The eggshells of brood parasites are often thicker than those of the hosts. For example, two studies of cuckoos parasiting great reed warblers reported thickness ratios of 1.02 : 0.87 and 1.04 : 0.81. The function of this thick eggshell is debated. One hypothesis, the puncture resistance hypothesis, states that the thicker eggshells serve to prevent hosts from breaking the eggshell, thus killing the embryo inside. This is supported by a study in which marsh warblers damaged their own eggs more often when attempting to break cuckoo eggs, but incurred less damage when trying to puncture great reed warbler eggs put in the nest by researchers. Another hypothesis is the laying damage hypothesis, which postulates that the eggshells are adapted to damage the eggs of the host when the former is being laid, and prevent the parasite's eggs from being damaged when the host lays its eggs. In support of this hypothesis, eggs of the shiny cowbird parasitizing the house wren and the
chalk-browed mockingbird The chalk-browed mockingbird (''Mimus saturninus'') is a bird in the family mimidae. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname, and Uruguay. Taxonomy and systematics The chalk-browed mockingbird has four subspecies, the ...
and the
brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...
parasitizing the house wren and the
red-winged blackbird The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and G ...
damaged the host's eggs when dropped, and sustained little damage when host eggs were dropped on them. Most avian brood parasites have very short egg incubation periods and rapid nestling growth. In many brood parasites, such as cuckoos and honeyguides, this short egg incubation period is due to internal incubation periods up to 24 hours longer in cuckoos than hosts. Some non-parasitic cuckoos also have longer internal incubation periods, suggesting that this longer internal incubation period was not an adaptation following brood parasitism, but predisposed birds to become brood parasites. This is likely facilitated by a heavier yolk in the egg providing more nutrients. Being larger than the hosts on hatching is a further adaptation to being a brood parasite.


Evolutionary arms race

Bird parasites mitigate the risk of egg loss by distributing eggs amongst a number of different hosts. As such behaviours damage the host, they often result in an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve. Some host species have strong rejection defenses, forcing the parasitic species to evolve excellent mimicry. In other species, hosts do not defend against parasites, and the parasitic mimicry is poor. Intraspecific brood parasitism among
coot Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...
s significantly increases the reproductive fitness of the parasite, but only about half of the eggs laid parasitically in other coot nests survive. This implies that coots have somewhat effective anti-parasitism strategies. Similarly, the parasitic offspring of
bearded reedling The bearded reedling (''Panurus biarmicus'') is a small, sexually dimorphic reed-bed passerine bird. It is frequently known as the bearded tit, due to some similarities to the long-tailed tit, or the bearded parrotbill. It is the only species ...
s, compared to offspring in non-parasitic nests, tend to develop much more slowly and often do not reach full maturity. Given that the cost to the host of egg removal by the parasite is unrecoverable, the best strategy for hosts is to avoid parasitism in the first place. This can take several forms, including selecting nest sites which are difficult to parasitize, starting incubation early so they are already sitting on the nests when parasites visit them early in the morning, and aggressively defending their territory. Once a parasitic egg has arrived in a host's nest, the next most optimal defense is to eject the parasitic egg. This requires the host to distinguish which eggs are not theirs, by identifying pattern differences or changes in the number of eggs. Eggs may be ejected by grasping, if the host has a large enough beak, or by puncturing. When the parasitic eggs are mimetic, hosts may mistake one of their own eggs for a parasite's. A host might also damage their own eggs while trying to eject a parasite's egg. Among hosts that do not eject parasitic eggs, some abandon parasitized nests and start over again. However, at high enough parasitism frequencies, this becomes maladaptive as the new nest will most likely also be parasitized. Some host species modify their nests to exclude the parasitic egg, either by weaving over the egg or by rebuilding a new nest over the existing one. For instance,
American coot The American coot (''Fulica americana''), also known as a mud hen or pouldeau, is a bird of the family Rallidae. Though commonly mistaken for ducks, American coots are only distantly related to ducks, belonging to a separate order. Unlike the w ...
s may kick the parasites' eggs out, or build a new nest beside the brood nests where the parasites' chicks starve to death. In the
western Bonelli's warbler The western Bonelli's warbler (''Phylloscopus bonelli'') is a warbler in the leaf warbler genus '' Phylloscopus''. It was formerly regarded as the western subspecies of a wider "Bonelli's warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic deve ...
, a small host, small dummy parasitic eggs were always ejected, whilst with large dummy parasitic eggs, nest desertion was more frequent.


Mafia hypothesis

There is a question as to why the majority of the hosts of brood parasites care for the nestlings of their parasites. Not only do these brood parasites usually differ significantly in size and appearance, but it is also highly probable that they reduce the reproductive success of their hosts. The "mafia hypothesis" proposes that when a brood parasite discovers that its egg has been rejected, it destroys the host's nest and injures or kills the nestlings. The threat of such a response may encourage compliant behavior from the host. Mafia-like behavior occurs in the
brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...
of North America, and the
great spotted cuckoo The great spotted cuckoo (''Clamator glandarius'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. It is widely spread throughout Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. It ...
of Europe. The great spotted cuckoo lays most of its eggs in the nests of the
European magpie The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (''Pica pica'') is a resident breeding bird throughout the northern part of the Eurasian continent. It is one of several birds in the crow family (corvids) designated magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic r ...
. It repeatedly visits nests it has parasitised, a precondition for the mafia hypothesis. Experimentally, nests from which the parasite's egg has been removed are destroyed by the cuckoo, supporting the hypothesis. An alternative explanation is that the destruction encourages the magpie host to build a new nest, giving the cuckoo another opportunity for parasitism. Similarly, the brown-headed cowbird parasitises the prothonotary warbler. Experimentally, 56% of egg-ejected nests were predated upon, against 6% of non-ejected nests. 85% of parasitized nests rebuilt by hosts were destroyed. Hosts that ejected parasite eggs produced 60% fewer young than those that accepted the cowbird eggs.


Similarity hypothesis

Common cuckoo The common cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. I ...
females have been proposed to select hosts with similar egg characteristics to her own. The hypothesis suggests that the female monitors a population of potential hosts and chooses nests from within this group. Study of museum nest collections shows a similarity between cuckoo eggs and typical eggs of the host species. A low percentage of parasitized nests were shown to contain cuckoo eggs not corresponding to the specific host egg morph. In these mismatched nests a high percent of the cuckoo eggs were shown to correlate to the egg morph of another host species with similar nesting sites. This has been pointed to as evidence for selection by similarity. The hypothesis has been criticised for providing no mechanism for choosing nests, nor identifying cues by which they might be recognised.


Hosts raise offspring

Sometimes hosts are completely unaware that they are caring for a bird that is not their own. This most commonly occurs because the host cannot differentiate the parasitic eggs from their own. It may also occur when hosts temporarily leave the nest after laying the eggs. The parasites lay their own eggs into these nests so their nestlings share the food provided by the host. It may occur in other situations. For example, female eiders would prefer to lay eggs in the nests with one or two existing eggs of others because the first egg is the most vulnerable to predators. The presence of others' eggs reduces the probability that a predator will attack her egg when a female leaves the nest after laying the first egg. Sometimes, the parasitic offspring kills the host nest-mates during competition for resources. For example, parasitic
cowbird Cowbirds are birds belonging to the genus ''Molothrus'' in the family Icteridae. They are of New World origin, and are obligate brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species. The genus was introduced by English naturalist Will ...
chicks kill the host nest-mates if food intake for each of them is low, but not if the food intake is adequate.


Taxonomic range


Birds


Intraspecific

In many
socially monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of dyadic relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time ( serial monogamy) — as compared to the various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., po ...
bird species, there are
extra-pair mating Extra-pair copulation (EPC) is a mating behaviour in monogamous species. Monogamy is the practice of having only one sexual partner at any one time, forming a long-term bond and combining efforts to raise offspring together; mating outside this pa ...
s resulting in males outside the pair bond siring offspring and used by males to escape from the
parental investment Parental investment, in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, is any parental expenditure (e.g. time, energy, resources) that benefits offspring.Clutton-Brock, T.H. 1991. ''The Evolution of Parental Care''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton ...
in raising their offspring. In
duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
species such as the goldeneye, this form of
cuckold A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife; the wife of an adulterous husband is a cuckquean. In biology, a cuckold is a male who unwittingly invests parental effort in juveniles who are not genetically his offspring. A husband who is a ...
ry is taken a step further, as females often lay their eggs in the nests of other individuals. Intraspecific brood parasitism has been recorded in 234 bird species, including 74
Anseriformes Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...
, 66
Passeriformes A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...
, 32
Galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...
, 19
Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from ''Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water a ...
, 8 Gruiformes, 6 Podicipediformes, and small numbers of species in other orders.


Interspecific

Interspecific brood-parasites include the
indigobird __NOTOC__ The indigobirds and whydahs, together with the cuckoo-finch, make up the family Viduidae; they are small passerine birds native to Africa. These are finch-like species which usually have black or indigo predominating in their plumage. ...
s, whydahs, and
honeyguide Honeyguides (family Indicatoridae) are near passerine birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus ''Prodotiscus''. Th ...
s in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
cowbird Cowbirds are birds belonging to the genus ''Molothrus'' in the family Icteridae. They are of New World origin, and are obligate brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species. The genus was introduced by English naturalist Will ...
s,
Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by thei ...
cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...
s, black-headed ducks, and some New World cuckoos in the Americas. Seven independent origins of obligate interspecific brood parasitism in birds have been proposed. While there is still some controversy over when and how many origins of interspecific brood parasitism have occurred, recent phylogenetic analyses suggest two origins in Passeriformes (once in New World cowbirds: Icteridae, and once in African Finches: Viduidae); three origins in Old World and New World cuckoos (once in Cuculinae, Phaenicophaeinae, and in Neomorphinae-Crotophaginae); a single origin in Old World honeyguides (Indicatoridae); and in a single species of waterfowl, the black-headed duck (''Heteronetta atricapilla''). Most avian brood parasites are specialists which parasitize only a single host species or a small group of closely related host species, but four out of the five parasitic cowbirds (all except the screaming cowbird) are generalists which parasitize a wide variety of hosts; the
brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...
has 221 known hosts. They usually lay only one egg per nest, although in some cases, particularly the
cowbird Cowbirds are birds belonging to the genus ''Molothrus'' in the family Icteridae. They are of New World origin, and are obligate brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species. The genus was introduced by English naturalist Will ...
s, several females may use the same host nest. The
common cuckoo The common cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. I ...
presents an interesting case in which the
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
as a whole parasitizes a wide variety of hosts, including the reed warbler and dunnock, but individual females specialize in a single species.
Gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
s regulating egg coloration appear to be passed down exclusively along the
maternal ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...
line, allowing females to lay mimetic eggs in the nest of the species they specialize in. Females generally parasitize nests of the species which raised them. Male common cuckoos fertilization, fertilize females of all lines, which maintains sufficient
gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as gene migration or geneflow and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent a ...
among the different maternal lines to prevent
speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution withi ...
. The mechanisms of host selection by female cuckoos are somewhat unclear, though several hypotheses have been suggested in attempt to explain the choice. These include genetic
inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Of ...
of host preference, host imprinting on young birds, returning to place of birth and subsequently choosing a host randomly ("natal philopatry"), choice based on preferred nest site (nest-site hypothesis), and choice based on preferred
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
(
habitat-selection hypothesis Habitat selection hypothesis is one of several hypotheses that attempt to explain the mechanisms of brood parasite host selection in cuckoos. Cuckoos are not the only brood parasites, however the behavior is more rare in other groups of birds, inc ...
). Of these hypotheses the nest-site selection and habitat selection have been most supported by experimental analysis.


Fish


Mouthbrooding parasites

A
mochokid The Mochokidae are a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes) that are known as the squeakers and upside-down catfish (although not all species swim upside-down). There are nine genera and about 200 species of mochokids. All the mochokids are f ...
catfish of
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. T ...
, ''
Synodontis multipunctatus ''Synodontis multipunctatus'', also known as the cuckoo catfish, cuckoo squeaker, or multipunk, is a small catfish from Lake Tanganyika, one of the lakes in the Great Rift Valley system in Africa. It is a brood parasite upon mouthbrooding cichlid ...
'', is a brood parasite of several
mouthbrooding Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a va ...
cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted th ...
fish. The catfish eggs are incubated in the host's mouth, and—in the manner of cuckoos—hatch before the host's own eggs. The young catfish eat the host fry inside the host's mouth, effectively taking up virtually the whole of the host's parental investment.


Nest parasites

A
cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ...
minnow, ''
Pungtungia herzi ''Pungtungia herzi'' is a species of cyprinid fish found in Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Named in honor of German entomologist Alfred Otto Herz (1856-1905), who collected the type specimen. See also *Brood parasite Brood parasites are ...
'' is a brood parasite of the percichthyid freshwater perch ''
Siniperca kawamebari ''Coreoperca kawamebari'', commonly known as the Japanese perch, redfin perch, Japanese river perch, Eye-spot perch or in Anglophone parts of Japan, simply the perch, is a predatory species of the freshwater perch native to Japan and southern Ko ...
'', which live in the south of the Japanese islands of
Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...
,
Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
and
Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
, and in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. Host males guard territories against intruders during the breeding season, creating a patch of reeds as a spawning site or "nest". Females (one or more per site) visit the site to lay eggs, which the male then defends. The parasite's eggs are smaller and stickier than the host's. 65.5% of host sites were parasitised in a study area.


Insects


Kleptoparasites

There are many different types of cuckoo bees, all of which lay their eggs in the nest cells of other bees, but they are normally described as kleptoparasites (Greek: klepto-, to steal), rather than as brood parasites, because the immature stages are almost never fed directly by the adult hosts. Instead, they simply take food gathered by their hosts. Examples of cuckoo bees are ''
Coelioxys rufitarsis ''Coelioxys rufitarsis'', common name red-legged cuckoo leafcutter bee, is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae. It is native to North America.Mitchell, T.B. 1962Bees of the Eastern United States.North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Sta ...
'', '' Melecta separata'', ''
Nomada With over 850 species, the genus ''Nomada'' is one of the largest genera in the family Apidae, and the largest genus of kleptoparasitic "cuckoo bees." Kleptoparasitic bees are so named because they enter the nests of a host and lay eggs there, st ...
'' and ''
Epeoloides ''Epeoloides'' is a genus of kleptoparasitic bees which lay their eggs in the nests of melittid bees of the genus '' Macropis''. Consists of two species: *'' Epeoloides coecutiens'' ( *'' Epeoloides pilosulus'' (Cresson, 1878) References ...
''. Kleptoparasitism in insects is not restricted to bees; several lineages of
wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...
including most of the Chrysididae, the
cuckoo wasp Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors ...
s, are kleptoparasites. The cuckoo wasps lay their eggs in the nests of other wasps, such as those of the potters and
mud dauber Mud dauber (or "mud wasp" or "dirt dauber") is a name commonly applied to a number of wasps from either the family Sphecidae or Crabronidae which build their nests from mud; this excludes members of the family Vespidae (especially the subfamily E ...
s.


True brood parasites

True brood parasitism is rare among insects. Cuckoo bumblebees (the subgenus ''
Psithyrus Cuckoo bumblebees are members of the subgenus ''Psithyrus'' in the bumblebee genus ''Bombus''. Until recently, the 28 species of ''Psithyrus'' were considered to constitute a separate genus. They are a specialized socially parasitic lineage whi ...
'') are among the few insects which, like cuckoos and cowbirds, are fed by adult hosts. Their queens kill and replace the existing queen of a colony of the host species, and then use the host workers to feed their brood. A true brood-parasitic wasp is ''
Polistes sulcifer ''Polistes semenowi'' is a species of paper wasp in the genus ''Polistes ''that is found in southeastern and southern central Europe, as well as central Asia, and was until 2017 erroneously known by the name ''Polistes sulcifer'', while a differe ...
''. This paper wasp has lost the ability to build its own nest, and relies on its host, '' P. dominula'', to raise its brood. The adult host feeds the parasite larvae directly, unlike typical kleptoparasitic insects. Such insect social parasites are often closely related to their hosts, an observation known as Emery's rule. Host insects are sometimes tricked into bringing offspring of another species into their own nests, as with the parasitic butterfly, '' Phengaris rebeli'', and the host ant ''
Myrmica schencki ''Myrmica schencki'' is a species of ant in the genus '' Myrmica''. Distribution and habitat ''Myrmica schencki'' is distributed across Europe (from Great Britain, Sweden, Finland in the North to Spain, Italy and the Balkans in the South), the C ...
''. The butterfly larvae release chemicals that confuse the host ant into believing that the ''P. rebeli'' larvae are actually ant larvae. Thus, the ''M. schencki'' ants bring back the ''P. rebeli'' larvae to their nests and feed them, much like the chicks of cuckoos and other brood-parasitic birds. This is also the case for the parasitic butterfly, ''
Niphanda fusca ''Niphanda fusca'' is a parasitic butterfly primarily found in East Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. It is a "cuckoo-type" parasite of the ant ''Camponotus japonicus''. It utilizes chemical mimicry to trick the host worker ants into ad ...
'', and its host ant ''
Camponotus japonicus ''Camponotus japonicus'', commonly known as the Japanese carpenter ant, is a species of ant native to eastern Asia. It is black, and one of the largest ants. A nest has about ten to thousands of individuals, and it can be a pest when it enter ...
''. The butterfly releases cuticular hydrocarbons that mimic those of the host male ant. The ant then brings the third instar larvae back into its own nest and raises them until pupation.


See also

*
Broodiness Broodiness is the action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to incubate them, often requiring the non-expression of many other behaviors including feeding and drinking.Homedes Ranquini, J. y Haro-García, F. Zoogenética. 1ra. edi ...
*
Host-parasite mimicry Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. Zoologists have repeatedly compa ...
* Kleptoparasite * Slave-making ant


References


External links


Field Museum: host lists for all known brood-parasitic birds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brood Parasite Bird breeding