Question

The cuckoo laying eggs in the nest of other species of birds, is an example of
A) Adelphi parasitism
B) Brood parasitism
C) Ectoparasites
D) Hyperparasitism

Answer 1

This type of parasitism relieves parasites of the investment in raising young ones or constructing their nests, which helps them to spend more time on other tasks like foraging and creating new offspring.

Complete answer:
Parasitism is a symbiosis between organisms where one organism, the parasite, lives inside or on a different organism, the host and causes damage and is structurally modified for this way of living.
Adelphoparasitism is a form of hyperparasitism that occurs in Hymenoptera. In Aphelinidae the males live as parasites of females of one's own species and kill their hosts.

Brood parasitism is a phenomenon in which certain bird species survive because of similarity in physical features, leaving their eggs to take care of other birds. For example, in the nest of the crow, cuckoo leaves its eggs. This cuckoo egg has matured and flew in the crow's nest for a certain amount of time. The brood parasitism relieves parasites of the investment in raising young ones or constructing their nests, which helps them to spend more time on other tasks such as foraging and creating new offspring. By sharing eggs between many different hosts, bird parasite species mitigate the risk of loss of eggs. As this behavior damages the host, an evolutionary arms race between the parasite and host contributes frequently to the coevolution of the pair of organisms.

Ectoparasites is a parasitism in which the parasite lives outside the host's body. The parasite is considered an ectoparasite in particular. The host-parasite relation is not reciprocal in ectoparasites.
The relationship between two parasites in which one grows within the other is hyperparasitism.

Thus, the correct answer is option B. i.e., Brood parasitism.

Note: Many species are brood parasites as they place their eggs in other species' nests, but most of them collect their own youth. A brood-parasite illustration in the nests of other bird species is female European cuckoos that only lay their eggs. The eggs of the host typically are closely similar to the egg of cuckoo. The host can detect and leave the nest, or the cuckoo can be incubated and hatched.