Division of Labour and Extended Parenting in a Desert Tenebrionid Beetle
1999
Rasa, O. Anne E.
Parastizopus armaticeps (Peringuey) is a nocturnal detritivorous desert tenebrionid beetle which can only reproduce after heavy rainfall. Both parents care for the young and excavate a breeding burrow together. They play similar roles in burrow excavation and protection until the eggs hatch, after which male and female roles diverge markedly Females collect detritus on the surface at night, depositing this at the burrow entrance, which they also clear of sand in the early evening. Males remain inside the burrow and dig to deepen and extend it, maintaining its moisture level as the sand desiccates They also pull the food dropped by the female down to the burrow base to form a food store for the offspring. Both sexes guard the burrow and attack same‐sex intruders, especially in the early phases of reproduction. The parents remain inside with the pupal cocoons until the teneral adults eclose. Males dig continually to maintain burrow humidity while females, which rarely forage during the pupal Period, recommence foraging for a further 16‐18d after pupal eclosure. They provide food for the newly eclosed beetles until the exoskeletons have hardened and melanization is almost complete, then the family disperses. Offspring over 10 d old pull down forage at the burrow entrance and later forage for food themselves and carry it to the burrow. This is the highest level of social and reproductive complexity described for beetles and the behavioural and ecological factors contributing to its evolution are discussed in the context of parental care known for other subsocial arthropods, especially coleopterans.
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