Surface topography and roughness of parasitic and host eggshells. The colour gradient distinguishes between higher surface points (light yellow) and deeper points (darker brown). Images are of brood-parasitic species (left column) and respective host (right column) pairs: (a) common cuckoo (C. canorus), (b) Eurasian reed warbler (A. scirpaceus), (c) cuckoo finch (A. imberbis), (d) tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava), (e) greater honeyguide (Indicator indicator), (f) little bee-eater (M. pusillus), (g) chestnut-winged cuckoo (C. coromandus), (h) greater necklaced laughingthrush (P. pectoralis). Of the fragments shown, the greater honeyguide had the greatest surface roughness (2384 nm Sa), and the cuckoo finch had the lowest surface roughness (745 nm Sa), with the overall order, in decreasing order of roughness, being (e), (a), (h), (b), (d), (f), (g) and (c). Scans were generated by SPIP software (Image Metrology, Denmark).