尽管引起了广泛的兴趣并且最近进行了实验，但还没有一个单一的生态模型可以解释鸟类蛋壳颜色多样性的适应性意义。鸫鸟通常呈蓝绿色的蛋就是一个富有魅力的例子，长期以来一直引起文化和科学的关注。尽管“真正的”画眉鸟的生物学和进化史已广为人知，但人们对栖息地变化和蛋壳色素沉着之间的相关进化以及这些变化如何与鸫鸟生物地理学相对应的了解甚少。我们应用系统发育比较方法来评估该属生活史特征以及蛋壳颜色和斑点存在的分歧和变异的进化时间。我们发现，在过去 1100 万年里，蛋壳颜色曾多次独立发生多样化，其中大部分变化发生在过去 400 万年内。大多数鸫鸟产下蓝绿色的蛋，也倾向于久坐和栖息在森林中。饮食通才物种和已过渡到森林栖息地的物种更有可能产白蛋（所研究物种的 10%）。反过来，任何栖息地的谱系都更有可能转变为蓝绿色的蛋。我们发现，在过去的 2-4 百万年中，一些进化枝的卵颜色变异有所增加，其中两个谱系辐射于南美洲和东古北界。这些发现支持了这样的假设：在开放环境中，白色的蛋对捕食者来说更显眼，并且多种非互斥的约束对鸟类蛋壳颜色的适应性功能起作用。

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Biogeographic history, egg colouration, and habitat selection in Turdus thrushes (Aves: Turdidae)

Despite broad interest and recent experimentation, there is no single ecological model accounting for the adaptive significance of the diversity of avian eggshell colouration. The often blue-green eggs of Turdus thrushes are a charismatic example of this, having long captured cultural and scientific attention. Although the biology and evolutionary history of “true” thrushes is well understood, little is known about correlated evolution between shifts in habitat and eggshell pigmentation, and how these shifts map with Turdus biogeography. We applied phylogenetic comparative methods to assess the evolutionary timing of divergence and variation of life history traits and eggshell colouration and maculation presence in the genus. We found that eggshell colour diversified independently on several occasions in the past 11 million years, with much of the variation occurring within the last 4 million years. The majority of Turdus species lay blue-green eggs and also tend to be sedentary and forest-dwelling. Diet generalist species and species which have transitioned to a forest habitat are more likely to lay white eggs (10% of studied species). In turn, lineages in any habitat were more likely to transition to blue-green eggs. We found that variation in egg colour is increased in some clades, of which two lineages radiated in South America and the East Palearctic, in the past 2–4 million years. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that white eggs are more conspicuous to predators in open environments and that multiple, non-mutually exclusive constraints operate on the adaptive function of avian eggshell colour.