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Some Potential Evolutionary Costs Associated With Paternal Care In The Water Bug Belostoma Flumineum Say, Larry Johnson

Masters Theses

Female water bugs (Belostoma flumineum) deposit eggs in a mucilaginous cement on the back of conspecific males, who then brood these eggs until hatching. Sex role reversal, in which females compete for males and males are discriminating, is predicted in this species because males provide parental care exclusively, and represent a limited resource. Presumably the advantage of this paternal behavior is increased survival of young. However, the potential exists for this egg-brooding behavior to incur evolutionary costs, and quantifying some of these costs was the thrust of this study.

One cost, a loss of polygynous opportunity, was investigated …