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Full-Text Articles in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
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 …
Concaveation And Maintenance Of Maternal Behavior In A Burrower Bug (Sehirus Cinctus): A Comparative Perspective, Scott Kight
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 …