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Provisioning control during maternal care by the earwig Anisolabis maritima (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae): Do mothers adjust provisioning according to offspring need?
Author(s) -
Suzuki Seizi
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
entomological science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1479-8298
pISSN - 1343-8786
DOI - 10.1111/ens.12322
Subject(s) - offspring , nymph , begging , biology , paternal care , provisioning , parent–offspring conflict , burrow , nest (protein structural motif) , parental investment , zoology , ecology , pregnancy , genetics , telecommunications , biochemistry , political science , computer science , law
Provisioning offspring is an important form of parental care for the improvement of offspring survival and growth. Because provisioning can be costly for parents, parents may change their investment levels in response to offspring need and begging signals. Anisolabis maritima is a cosmopolitan species of earwig that shows subsocial behavior. Females progressively provision their young in soil burrows. The present study investigated whether A. maritima mothers carry food to the nest for their offspring (nymphs) and whether the mothers adjust the amount of food carried to the burrow according to the degree of the nymphs’ hunger. Through laboratory experiments, I found that mothers carried food to sites where more nymphs were present, and more food to broods of more hungry nymphs. These results have revealed that mothers recognize the presence of offspring and the degree of their hunger. This study, therefore, indicates the presence of offspring begging signals in A. maritima .