Effect of Parental Care on the Duration of Larval Development and Offspring Survival in<i>Nicrophorus mexicanus</i>Matthews (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Anduaga, Sofía; Huerta, Carmen

doi:10.1649/0010-065x(2001)055[0264:eopcot]2.0.co;2

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Parental provisioning appears to be a superior way for offspring to obtain food, given that offspring can forage for themselves as well (see also Smiseth and Moore 2004b). Experiments with other burying beetles, where offspring development was compared under conditions where care was provided or eliminated, have also shown that care positively influences larval growth and development (Eggert et al 1998;Anduaga and Huerta 2001;Rauter and Moore 2002b). Thus, while a positive effect of parental provisioning is unsurprising, this is the first study to quantify the effects of natural levels of variation in care.…”

Section: Quantifying Selection Arising From Parental and Offspringmentioning

confidence: 79%

Selection, Inheritance, and the Evolution of Parent‐Offspring Interactions

Lock

Smiseth

Moore

2004

The American Naturalist

146

226

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Very few studies have examined parent-offspring interactions from a quantitative genetic perspective. We used a crossfostering design and measured genetic correlations and components of social selection arising from two parental and two offspring behaviors in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Genetic correlations were assessed by examining behavior of relatives independent of common social influences. We found positive genetic correlations between all pairs of behaviors, including between parent and offspring behaviors. Patterns of selection were assessed by standardized performance and selection gradients. Parental provisioning had positive effects on offspring performance and fitness, while remaining near the larvae without feeding them had negative effects. Begging had positive effects on offspring performance and fitness, while increased competition among siblings had negative effects. Coadaptations between parenting and offspring behavior appear to be maintained by genetic correlations and functional trade-offs; parents that feed their offspring more also spend more time in the area where they can forage for themselves. Families with high levels of begging have high levels of sibling competition. Integrating information from genetics and selection thus provides a general explanation for why variation persists in seemingly beneficial traits expressed in parent-offspring interactions and illustrates why it is important to measure functionally related suites of behaviors.

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Section: Quantifying Selection Arising From Parental and Offspringmentioning

confidence: 79%

Selection, Inheritance, and the Evolution of Parent‐Offspring Interactions

Lock

Smiseth

Moore

2004

The American Naturalist

146

226

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“…N. orbicollis , which is one of the most basal species within the genus Nicrophorus [ 33 ], appears to be a beetle with obligatory parental care, as offspring do not survive in the absence of parents, whereas parental care is facultative in N. pustulatus and N. vespilloides [ 24 , 25 ]. Likewise, parental care appears to be facultative in many other Nicrophorus species, including N. mexicanus [ 34 ], N. defodiens, N. tomentosus [ 24 ] and N. quadripunctatus [ 35 ]. This raises the question, therefore, as to why N. orbicollis is so exceptional among other Nicrophorus species with regard to offspring dependency, and more particularly, what causes the striking helplessness of offspring in the absence of parents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Offspring dependence on parental care and the role of parental transfer of oral fluids in burying beetles

et al. 2018

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BackgroundImmature stages of many animals can forage and feed on their own, whereas others depend on their parents’ assistance to obtain or process food. But how does such dependency evolve, and which offspring and parental traits are involved? Burying beetles (Nicrophorus) provide extensive biparental care, including food provisioning to their offspring. Interestingly, there is substantial variation in the reliance of offspring on post-hatching care among species. Here, we examine the proximate mechanisms underlying offspring dependence, focusing on the larvae of N. orbicollis, which are not able to survive in the absence of parents. We specifically asked whether the high offspring dependence is caused by (1) a low starvation tolerance, (2) a low ability to self-feed or (3) the need to obtain parental oral fluids. Finally, we determined how much care (i.e. duration of care) they require to be able to survive.ResultsWe demonstrate that N. orbicollis larvae are not characterized by a lower starvation tolerance than larvae of the more independent species. Hatchlings of N. orbicollis are generally able to self-feed, but the efficiency depends on the kind of food presented and differs from the more independent species. Further, we show that even when providing highly dependent N. orbicollis larvae with easy ingestible liquefied mice carrion, only few of them survived to pupation. However, adding parental oral fluids significantly increased their survival rate. Finally, we demonstrate that survival and growth of dependent N. orbicollis larvae is increased greatly by only a few hours of parental care.ConclusionsConsidering the fact that larvae of other burying beetle species are able to survive in the absence of care, the high dependence of N. orbicollis larvae is puzzling. Even though they have not lost the ability to self-feed, an easily digestible, liquefied carrion meal is not sufficient to ensure their survival. However, our results indicate that the transfer of parental oral fluids is an essential component of care. In the majority of mammals, offspring rely on the exchange of fluids (i.e. milk) to survive, and our findings suggest that even in subsocial insects, such as burying beetles, parental fluids can significantly affect offspring survival.

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“…These biparental care and nesting behaviours displayed by the parents have been the focus of intense behavioural ecological research over the last few decades (e.g. Anduaga and Huerta 2001;Trumbo et al 2001;Nisimura et al 2002;Rauter and Moore 2002;Smiseth et al 2003). Although the taxonomy of the 21 New World silphid species was revised relatively recently (Peck and Anderson 1985;Sikes and Peck 2000), that of the Old World, particularly Asia, has seen little comprehensive attention since the world revisions of and Hatch (1927).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revision of Nicrophorus in part: new species and inferred phylogeny of the nepalensis-group based on evidence from morphology and mitochondrial DNA (Coleoptera:Silphidae:Nicrophorinae)

Sikes

Trumbo

Madge³

2006

Invert. Systematics

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Carrion beetles of the genus Nicrophorus Fabricius, 1775 (Silphidae) are well known for their biparental brood care and monopolisation of small vertebrate carcasses in subterranean crypts. Although the taxonomy of New World species has received modern attention, the fauna of Asia, primarily of the nepalensis-group of species, has not. Herein we revise this species-group and describe as new the following seven species: Nicrophorus charon Sikes & Madge (Sulawesi), . We obtained a preliminary phylogeny using morphology and mtDNA (COII). This was inferred using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods with the Mkv and GTR+I+G models (parsimony was rejected by the Akaike information criterion for being excessively parameter-rich). The phylogenetic signal in the morphological dataset was not strong and results were confounded by a 'long-branch' species, N. reticulatus. The signal was stronger in the combined dataset and the COII-only dataset. The molecular phylogeny supported the new status of species N. trumboi and N. melissae. Support was found for a mainland origin of the group with subsequent radiations into the Malay Archipelago.

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Effect of Parental Care on the Duration of Larval Development and Offspring Survival inNicrophorus mexicanusMatthews (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Selection, Inheritance, and the Evolution of Parent‐Offspring Interactions

Selection, Inheritance, and the Evolution of Parent‐Offspring Interactions

Offspring dependence on parental care and the role of parental transfer of oral fluids in burying beetles

Revision of Nicrophorus in part: new species and inferred phylogeny of the nepalensis-group based on evidence from morphology and mitochondrial DNA (Coleoptera:Silphidae:Nicrophorinae)

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