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Full-Text Articles in Entomology
Visual Attention In Jumping Spiders, Margaret Bruce
Visual Attention In Jumping Spiders, Margaret Bruce
Masters Theses
The different ways that animals extract and analyze visual information from their environment is of interest to sensory ecologists. Jumping spiders, well-known for visually guided mating and hunting behavior, are an interesting model for the study of visual attention because they quickly and efficiently integrate information from eight eyes with a small brain. Stimuli in front of the spider are examined by two functionally and morphologically distinct pairs of forward-facing eyes. The principal eyes discern fine details and have small retinas and thus a small visual field. However, their position at the back of moveable tubes within the cephalothorax expands …
Investigation Of Matrilineal Relationships Via Mitochondrial Dna In The Southeastern Yellowjacket (Vespula Squamosa), Anthony Deets
Investigation Of Matrilineal Relationships Via Mitochondrial Dna In The Southeastern Yellowjacket (Vespula Squamosa), Anthony Deets
Masters Theses
The question of whether and how apparently "altruistic" behaviors can evolve in social animals has received an enormous amount of attention from evolutionary biologists and has been termed "the central theoretical problem of sociobiology". Thus, recent interest is eusocial species with coexisting multiple queens stems from the realization that the genetic relatedness of individuals in such colonies presents additional theoretical challenges beyond those addressed by the Hamiltonian model of kin selection and lengthens the potential list of reproductive conflicts of interest.
The Southeastern Yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) exhibits two social forms sympatrically in the southern parts of its range. These two …
Factors Affecting Parental Investment Strategies In Male Waterbugs, Scott Kight
Factors Affecting Parental Investment Strategies In Male Waterbugs, Scott Kight
Masters Theses
Male giant waterbugs (Belostoma flumineum Say) brood eggs oviposited on their dorsi by conspecific females. Preliminary observations indicate that viable egg pads are sometimes discarded before hatching. Theory predicts that such behavior should occur only if costs incurred by brooding exceed benefits of hatching the egg pad. The amount of paternal investment per pad should be similar for both large and small pad sizes, but as egg pads become smaller, investment per egg increases. Thus, smaller pads should be more likely to be discarded unhatched than larger ones. Similarly, egg pads containing inviable eggs should also be more frequently …
Some Factors Affecting Male Mating Success In The Giant Waterbug (Belostoma Flumineum Say), Karyn S. Crisman
Some Factors Affecting Male Mating Success In The Giant Waterbug (Belostoma Flumineum Say), Karyn S. Crisman
Masters Theses
Giant waterbugs (Subfamily Belostomatinae) are interesting in that males provide exclusive post-copulatory care of young. This unusual behavior makes this species an excellent study system for investigations of sexual selection theory because in such systems, sex role reversals are predicted. Previous studies indicate that role reversal in giant waterbugs is not complete because males still court females. It is assumed that from this courtship display females can assess male quality and "choose" a superior male. If some males are chosen over others then differential mating success results. This study was undertaken to ascertain some of the factors that affect male …
Mating Behavior Of The Giant Waterbug Belostoma Flumineum Say, Janet E. Ruppert
Mating Behavior Of The Giant Waterbug Belostoma Flumineum Say, Janet E. Ruppert
Masters Theses
Sexual selection theory predicts that in the few species where males make a larger parental investment than females and limit female reproduction, females should court and compete for males (i.e. we should observe "sex-role reversal"--Trivers, 1972). These predictions were tested in the laboratory with the giant waterbug Belostoma flumineum Say (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) . Males of this species characteristically carry and brood eggs on their dorsa, thus making a substantial parental investment.
The courtship sequence in "one male:one female" pairings began with the male "pumping" (rapidly raising and lowering his abdomen at the water's surface). This presumably attracted the female, …