Female egg dumping and the effect of sex ratio on male egg carrying in a coreid bug
| Autor: | Arja Kaitala, Minna Miettinen |
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| Rok vydání: | 1997 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Behavioral Ecology. 8:429-432 |
| ISSN: | 1465-7279 1045-2249 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/beheco/8.4.429 |
| Popis: | PhyUomorpha lacmiata Vill (Heteroptera, Coreidae) is unique among teiieauial infects in that females ghie eggi on the back* of other conspecifics. Egg carrying by P. lacmiata males has previously been considered as paternal care. We explored female oviposidon with respect to previous mating experience of females and tested whether sex ratio affects male egg-carrying. The hypothesis that male egg-carrying is a form of paternal care predicts that a male should always accept eggs after mating with a female. However, if male egg-carrying is a form of postcopulatory mate guarding rather than paternal care, egg carrying should increase in die presence of other males. When two couples were placed together, females laid eggs on the backs of all individuals enclosed, including the backs of other females. However, when a female was accompanied by 2 males, 22 out of 26 females oviposited on their mating partner. Thus, sexual compeddon rather than paternity alone, affects a male's eagerness to carry eggs. However, even if males sometimes carry their own eggs, females lay eggs on the backs of all conspecifics they can easily acquire. Thus, egg carrying in P. lacmiata is partially voluntary and partially die result of female egg dumping. Ktj words: Coreidae, egg carrying, Heteroptera mate guarding, paternal care, PhyUomorpha lacmiata, sex ratio. [Bthav Ecol 8:429-432 (1997)1 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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