List of brood parasitic passerines

Interspecific brood parasitism evolved twice independently in the order Passeriformes, in the cowbirds (genus Molothrus ) and in the family Viduidae. ^[1] Instead of making nests of their own, and feeding their young, brood parasites deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds. ^[2]

The vampire ground finch is a parasite, but is not brood parasitic. ^[3]

Species

Family Viduidae

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Host species [a]
Cuckoo-finch	Anomalospiza imberbis (Cabanis, 1868)		Cisticolidae, [4] most commonly Prinia subflava [5]
Village indigobird	Vidua chalybeata (Müller, 1776)		Lagonosticta senegala , Lagonosticta nitidula [6]
Jambandu indigobird	Vidua raricola Payne, 1982		Amandava subflava (primary host), possibly Lagonosticta rara [6]
Barka indigobird	Vidua larvaticola Payne, 1982		Lagonosticta larvata (primary host), Lagonosticta virata [6]
Jos Plateau indigobird	Vidua maryae Payne, 1982		Lagonosticta sanguinodorsalis [b] [6]
Quailfinch indigobird	Vidua nigeriae (Alexander, 1908)		Ortygospiza atricollis [6]
Dusky indigobird	Vidua funerea (de Tarragon, L, 1847)		Lagonosticta rubricata [6]
Zambezi indigobird	Vidua codringtoni (Neave, 1907)		Hypargos niveoguttatus (primary host), Hypargos margaritatus [6]
Purple indigobird	Vidua purpurascens (Reichenow, 1883)		Lagonosticta rhodopareia (primary host), possibly Lagonosticta rubricata [6]
Wilson's indigobird	Vidua wilsoni (Hartert, 1901)		Lagonosticta rufopicta (for V. w. wilsoni), Lagonosticta nitidula (for V. w. incognita) [6]
Cameroon indigobird	Vidua camerunensis (Grote, 1922)		Lagonosticta rara (primary host), Lagonosticta rubricata , Clytospiza monteiri and Euschistospiza dybowskii [6]
Steel-blue whydah	Vidua hypocherina Verreaux & Verreaux, 1856		Estrilda erythronotos , Estrilda charmosyna [6]
Straw-tailed whydah	Vidua fischeri (Reichenow, 1882)		Unknown, presumed to be Granatina ianthinogaster [6]
Shaft-tailed whydah	Vidua regia (Linnaeus, 1766)		Granatina granatina (primary host), Sporopipes squamifrons , Prinia flavicans [6]
Pin-tailed whydah	Vidua macroura (Pallas, 1764)		Around 17 species in Estrildidae, Cisticolidae, Fringillidae and Emberizidae [6]
Togo paradise whydah	Vidua togoensis (Grote, 1923)		Presumed to be Pytilia hypogrammica [6]
Exclamatory paradise whydah	Vidua interjecta (Grote, 1922)		Pytilia phoenicoptera (primary host), Pytilia lineata , possibly Pytilia hypogrammica [6]
Long-tailed paradise whydah	Vidua paradisaea		Pytilia melba [6]
Sahel paradise whydah	Vidua orientalis		Pytilia melba citerior (for V. o. aucupum) [6]
Broad-tailed paradise whydah	Vidua obtusa		Pytilia afra [6]

Family Icteridae

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Host species [c]
Shiny cowbird	Molothrus bonariensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789)		At least 102 species [7]
Brown-headed cowbird	Molothrus ater (Boddaert, 1783)		At least 174 species [7]
Screaming cowbird	Molothrus rufoaxillaris Cassin, 1866		Most commonly Agelaioides badius , occasionally four other species [d] [8]
Giant cowbird	Molothrus oryzivorus (Gmelin, JF, 1788)		Corvidae and Icteridae, at least 12 species [7]
Bronzed cowbird	Molothrus aeneus (Wagler, 1829)		At least 48 species [7]

Notes

1. Some primary host species of Vidua are only known from song mimicry
2. Suspected from song mimicry
3. Only includes species known to rear the parasite's young
4. Gnorimopsar chopi , Pseudoleistes virescens , Cacicus solitarius , and Machetornis rixosa

References

1. Soler 2017, p. 48.
2. David Attenborough (1998) [1998]. The Life of Birds . New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p.  246. ISBN   0-691-01633-X.
3. Schluter, Dolph; Grant, Peter R. (1984). "Ecological Correlates of Morphological Evolution in a Darwin's Finch, Geospiza difficilis" (PDF). Evolution . 38 (4): 856–869. doi:10.2307/2408396. hdl: 2027.42/137395 . JSTOR   2408396. PMID   28555828.
4. Caves, Eleanor M.; Stevens, Martin; Spottiswoode, Claire N. (2017-05-17). "Does coevolution with a shared parasite drive hosts to partition their defences among species?". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1854): 20170272. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0272. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   5443948 . PMID   28515202.
5. Stevens, Martin; Troscianko, Jolyon; Spottiswoode, Claire N. (2013-09-24). "Repeated targeting of the same hosts by a brood parasite compromises host egg rejection". Nature Communications. 4 (1): 2475. Bibcode:2013NatCo...4.2475S. doi:10.1038/ncomms3475. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   3791459 . PMID   24064931.
6. Lowther, Peter E. (2017-04-18). "Host List of Avian Brood Parasites - 5 - Passeriformes; Viduidae" (PDF). Fields Museum.
7. Lowther, Peter E. (2024-04-10). "Lists of victims and hosts of the parasitic cowbirds (Molothrus)" (PDF). Field Museum.
8. Di Giacomo, Alejandro G.; Mahler, Bettina; Reboreda, Juan C. (2010-12-01). "Screaming Cowbird Parasitism of Nests of Solitary Caciques and Cattle Tyrants". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 122 (4): 795–799. doi:10.1676/10-002.1. hdl: 11336/68702 . ISSN   1559-4491.

Works cited

• Soler, Manuel, ed. (2017). Avian brood parasitism: Behaviour, Ecology, Evolution and Coevolution. Fascinating life sciences. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. ISBN   978-3-319-73138-4.