Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kudo, S.-i.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Kudo, S.-i.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Behavioral Ecology Vol. 13 No. 6: 742-749
© 2002 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

Phenotypic selection and function of reproductive behavior in the subsocial bug Elasmucha putoni (Heteroptera: Acanthosomatidae)

Shin-ichi Kudo

Laboratory of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-8589 and Department of Biology, Naruto University of Education, Naruto, Tokushima, 772-8502 Japan

Address correspondence to S. Kudo, Naruto University of Education, Naruto, Tokushima, 772-8502 Japan. E-mail: skudo{at}naruto-u.ac.jp.

To investigate the function of maternal care and determinants of reproductive success in the subsocial bug Elasmucha putoni (Heteroptera: Acanthosomatidae), I used two different approaches, the measurement of phenotypic selection and female-removal experiments under conditions differing in biotic-environmental pressure. For two field populations, unattended eggs and younger nymphs consistently suffered severe predation pressure and attendance by parent females greatly enhanced their survival. In contrast, under enemy-excluded conditions, offspring performance was not reduced in broods without parent females, indicating that maternal care functions as a physical defense against predators. However, the determinant of female reproductive success in E. putoni in the field was not the care behavior alone. Selection gradient analysis showed that early season oviposition and larger clutch size, as well as a longer duration of care by a female, was favored during the breeding episode. This study is the first to evaluate phenotypic selection on parental care and other reproductive traits in arthropods.

Key words: Elasmucha, Heteroptera, parental care, phenotypic selection, reproductive success, subsociality.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.