Abstract
One of the most obvious adaptations to the brood parasitic mode of reproduction is the formation of eggs with unusually strong shells, which apparently reduce chances of egg breakage during laying and puncture ejection attempts of parasitic eggs by the hosts. We tested a hypothesis that strong eggshells of the Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, may have also led to a stronger hatching muscle, musculus complexus. First, the Cuckoo hatching muscle had a higher density of fibers than that of the similarly sized Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus chicks; and second, the cross-sectional area of fibers of the hatching muscle was smaller in the Cuckoo than in the Great Reed Warbler. We propose that the increased density of muscle fibers in the Cuckoo facilitates hatching out of structurally strong eggshells because chicks possessing this trait should be able to exert greater pressure on the shell during the hatching process. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the higher density of fibers in the musculus complexus represents another adaptation facilitating hatching from unusually strong parasitic eggs that has presumably evolved during coevolution involving the Cuckoo and its hosts.
Zusammenfassung
Wie ein Kuckuck ( Cuculus canorus ) aus dem Ei schlüpft: die Folgen einer harten Eierschale für den Schlupfmuskel ( Musculus complexus ) Eine der offensichtlichsten Anpassungen an eine brutparasitische Lebensweise ist die Bildung von Eiern mit einer ungewöhnlich harten Schale, was offenbar das Risiko verringert, dass die Eier während des Legens zerbrechen oder vom Wirt durch Aufspießen mit dem Schnabel aus dem Nest entfernt werden. Wir haben die Hypothese getestet, dass die harte Eischale des Kuckucks (Cuculus canorus) auch zu einem kräftigeren Schlupfmuskel (Musculus complexus) geführt haben könnte. Erstens wies der Schlupfmuskel des Kuckucks eine höhere Faserdichte auf als der ähnlich großer Küken des Drosselrohrsängers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), und zweitens war die Querschnittsfläche der Fasern des Schlupfmuskels beim Kuckuck kleiner als beim Drosselrohrsänger. Wir schlagen vor, dass die höhere Muskelfaserdichte beim Kuckuck das Schlüpfen aus Eiern mit härterer Schale erleichtert, da Küken mit diesem Merkmal in der Lage sein sollten, währen des Schlupfprozesses höheren Druck auf die Schale auszuüben. Unsere Ergebnisse sind im Einklang mit der Hypothese, dass die höhere Faserdichte im Musculus complexus eine weitere Anpassung darstellt, die das Schlüpfen aus ungewöhnlich hartschaligen Brutparasiteneiern erleichtert und die vermutlich während der Koevolution von Kuckuck und Wirt entstanden ist.
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Acknowledgments
The study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (Grant No. P506/12/2404), the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Grant No. IAA6093203), and by institutional support (RVO: 68081766).
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Honza, M., Feikusová, K., Procházka, P. et al. How to hatch from the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) egg: implications of strong eggshells for the hatching muscle (musculus complexus). J Ornithol 156, 679–685 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1163-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1163-z