Molecular-genetic basis for the formation of ecological races in cuckoos. - N.N. Balatsky. - Berkut. 9 (1-2). 2000. P. 136-139.
Egg-shell coloration was studied in 370 eggs of nest parasite species of cuckoos (Cuculus canorus, C. saturatus, C. micropterus, C. poliocephalus, Hierococcyx fugax). In 281 nests (76 %) background coloration and pattern of the egg-shell, as well as architectonics and pattern location on the egg-shell, are concordant in the parasite species and the host species. In the cases of polymorphous coloration of the egg-shell in a host species, egg-shell coloration in the parasite species mimics an average variant of the egg-shell in the host species. This concordance implies an analogous molecular-genetic basis for the phenomena. A new hypothesis is put forward of regulative synthesis of the egg-shell coloration in the parasite species. [Russian].
Key words: Cuckoos, nest parasitism, host species, ecological race, egg, egg-shell coloration.
Address: N.N. Balatsky, Museum of Regional Studies, Vokzalnaya mag. 11, 630004 Novosibirsk, Russia; e-mail: kolya@nrsm.nsc.ru.