Recent studies, which have found evidence for kin-biased egg donation, have sparked interest in re-assessing the parasitic nature of conspecific brood parasitism (CBP). Since host-parasite kinship is essential for mutual benefits to arise from CBP, we explored the role of relatedness in determining the behaviour of conspecific nest parasites and their hosts in nesting female Barrow's goldeneyes...

Evolutionary hypotheses regarding the function of eggshell phenotypes, from solar protection through mimicry, have implicitly assumed that eggshell appearance remains static throughout the laying and incubation periods. However, recent research demonstrates that egg coloration changes over relatively short, biologically relevant timescales. Here, we provide the first evidence that such changes ...

The range of hosts used by a parasite is influenced by macro-evolutionary processes (host switching, host-parasite co-evolution), as well as 'encounter filters' and 'compatibility filters' at the micro-evolutionary level driven by host/parasite ecology and physiology. Host specialization is hypothesized to result in trade-offs with aspects of parasite life history (e.g. reproductive output), bu...

Parasitic Gastroenteritis(PGE) Penrith diagnosed PGE in a 10-week-old Limousin-X calf which had been at pasture for three weeks before developing diarrhoea. Parasitological examination revealed 5100 trichostrongyle eggs per gram faeces and 1700 coccidial oocysts. Langford diagnosed PGE on eight occasions in six to twelve month old calves Trichostrongyle sp. worm egg counts of up to 4,550 epg we...

Recent evidence suggests that blue-green coloration of bird eggshells may be related to female and/or egg phenotypic quality, and that such colour may affect parental effort and therefore the nutritional environment of developing nestlings. Here we suggest that these relationships and the signal function of eggshell coloration would affect the outcome of coevolution between avian brood parasite...

Parasitic crustaceans of Lernanthropus latis were isolated from the host, the seabass, Lates calcarifer, obtained from a cage culture in Setiu Wetland, Terengganu. The adult females with egg were kept alive in vials containing 20 mL of filtered seawater and incubated at 30°C. The eggs were monitored every hour and the hatching periods were recorded. Three developmental stages were observed, nam...

The coevolutionary relationships between brood parasites and their hosts are often studied by examining the egg rejection behaviour of host species using artificial eggs. However, the traditional methods for producing artificial eggs out of plasticine, plastic, wood, or plaster-of-Paris are laborious, imprecise, and prone to human error. As an alternative, 3D printing may reduce human error, en...

Question: Does nest predation influence egg colour appearance among North American and European passerine birds? Analyses of species that lay their eggs directly on the ground provide support for such a contention, but it is less obvious in shrub and canopy nesters. We hypothesized that if predators locate nests by egg colour, nest predation could select for eggs with a less conspicuous backgro...

A larval army caste is found in some parasitic wasps with polyembryonic or clonal proliferation, where many clone larvae emerge from a single egg. In contrast to non-parasitic eusocial Hymenoptera, sterile soldier larvae that protect their clonal reproductives are found in both females and males. Recently, the proportion of soldier larvae has been found to vary radically, depending on the inter...

A drip irrigation delivery system was used to infest field sites with the plant-parasitic root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita. Juvenile or egg inocula passed through the system without blockage of emitters or harm to the nematodes. Field sites so infested were available for experimentation. Delivery of approximately 5 x 10 to 10 juveniles or 10 to 3 x 10 eggs per emitter through the drip...