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Factors Influencing Maternal Behaviour In A Burrower Bug, Sehirus Cinctus (Heteroptera: Cydnidae), Scott Kight
Factors Influencing Maternal Behaviour In A Burrower Bug, Sehirus Cinctus (Heteroptera: Cydnidae), Scott Kight
Scott Kight
Female burrower bugs, Sehirus cinctus (Cydnidae), brood and provision their young. This study provides an integrative approach to insect parental behaviour by examining the influence of maternal experience on the maintenance and termination of maternal care. Intensity of care (maternal responsivity) was determined by assaying a subject’s response to tactile disturbance and by measuring time spent in proximity to young. First-brood mothers were highly responsive until 3 days after their eggs hatched. Second-brood mothers, however, were only responsive until 1–2 days post-hatching. This effect was associated with differences in age and parity, but not experience, because …