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Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons™

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Behavior and Ethology

Selected Works

Cydnidae

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Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Precocene Ii Modifies Maternal Responsiveness In The Burrower Bug, Sehirus Cinctus (Heteroptera)., Scott Kight Dec 1997

Precocene Ii Modifies Maternal Responsiveness In The Burrower Bug, Sehirus Cinctus (Heteroptera)., Scott Kight

Scott Kight

The anti‐Juvenile Hormone agent precocene II was used to investigate the relationship of corpora allata activity to subsocial behaviour in a burrower bug Sehirus cinctus Palisot (Heteroptera: Cydnidae). Egg‐brooding females treated with a range of dosages of precocene II exhibited reliably depressed maternal defensive behaviour when treated with at least 70 μg of precocene II, but attraction to eggs was only depressed at higher dosages. This effect was not due to precocene II toxicity, as demonstrated by the prevention of depression effects through simultaneous treatments of precocene II and the Juvenile Hormone analogue methoprene. Methoprene, however, failed to reinstate maternal …

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Factors Influencing Maternal Behaviour In A Burrower Bug, Sehirus Cinctus (Heteroptera: Cydnidae), Scott Kight Dec 1996

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 …

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Concaveation And Maintenance Of Maternal Behavior In A Burrower Bug (Sehirus Cinctus): A Comparative Perspective, Scott Kight Dec 1995

Concaveation And Maintenance Of Maternal Behavior In A Burrower Bug (Sehirus Cinctus): A Comparative Perspective, Scott Kight

Scott Kight

This study investigates 2 patterns of maternal behavior typical of mammals, using a heterop- teran insect as the study animal. Sehirus cinctus, a burrower bug (Heteroptera: Cydnidae), exhibits relatively well-developed maternal behavior that includes guarding eggs and provi- sioning offspring. Mothers remained maternally responsive to stimulus eggs for 24-48 hr following removal of their own eggs, but the response grew weaker with longer separation times. A proportion of nulliparous females also exhibited maternal responsiveness when presented with stimulus eggs. Males, however, never responded parentally to eggs. The results of this study highlight similarities in general female responsiveness to stimulus young …

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