Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study

Parental care in which females attend their offspring is recorded in over 30 species of ground beetles. Despite this, there is no quantitative data on the fate of the offspring when the mother is experimentally removed. This paper investigates parental care in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: C...

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Main Authors: Felix N. KOLESNIKOV, Arevik N. KARAMYAN
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Science 2019-02-01
Series:European Journal of Entomology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.eje.cz/artkey/eje-201901-0004_parental_care_and_offspring_survival_in_pterostichus_anthracinus_coleoptera_carabidae_an_experimental_stud.php
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spelling doaj-352aa6b655ed437bb75c44ca205b0aaf2021-04-16T20:36:07ZengInstitute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of ScienceEuropean Journal of Entomology1210-57591802-88292019-02-011161334110.14411/eje.2019.004eje-201901-0004Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental studyFelix N. KOLESNIKOV0Arevik N. KARAMYAN1Medical College 5 of Moscow Health Care Department, Moscow 117638, Russian Federation; e-mail: f.kolesnikov@mail.ruYerevan State University, Alex Manoogian Street 1, Yerevan 375049, Republic of Armenia; e-mail: arevkaramyan22@gmail.comParental care in which females attend their offspring is recorded in over 30 species of ground beetles. Despite this, there is no quantitative data on the fate of the offspring when the mother is experimentally removed. This paper investigates parental care in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae). The objectives of the study were to estimate: (1) egg survival when the female is removed; (2) the ability of females to defend their eggs from attack by predators; (3) the ability of females to repair a damaged nest in which egg attendance takes place. In the laboratory, the reproductive activity of P. anthracinus lasted four months (from May till August) and peaked in late June. Mean (± SE) number of eggs in each clutch was 25.25 ± 2.19. All of the egg clutches were guarded by a female. Female attendance had no effect on egg mortality due to microbial attack. The duration of embryonic development lasted on average 5.2-5.3 days, and did not differ between the groups with and without maternal care. In P. anthracinus maternal care is important in preventing egg mortality due to predators. In the laboratory the percentage mortality of eggs without maternal care due to predators was 100%. In the group in which females attended their eggs, percentage mortality of offspring due to predation was about 51%. Female ability to repair damaged nests is important in preventing dehydration and reducing predation pressure. This laboratory study provides the first quantitative data on the importance of maternal care in ground beetles in determining the survival of their offspring.https://www.eje.cz/artkey/eje-201901-0004_parental_care_and_offspring_survival_in_pterostichus_anthracinus_coleoptera_carabidae_an_experimental_stud.phpcoleopteracarabidaeground beetlespterostichus anthracinusparental carepresocial behavioursubsocial behaviourpredation pressurefungal attackparental removaloffspring survival
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Felix N. KOLESNIKOV
Arevik N. KARAMYAN
spellingShingle Felix N. KOLESNIKOV
Arevik N. KARAMYAN
Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study
European Journal of Entomology
coleoptera
carabidae
ground beetles
pterostichus anthracinus
parental care
presocial behaviour
subsocial behaviour
predation pressure
fungal attack
parental removal
offspring survival
author_facet Felix N. KOLESNIKOV
Arevik N. KARAMYAN
author_sort Felix N. KOLESNIKOV
title Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study
title_short Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study
title_full Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study
title_fullStr Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study
title_full_unstemmed Parental care and offspring survival in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae): An experimental study
title_sort parental care and offspring survival in pterostichus anthracinus (coleoptera: carabidae): an experimental study
publisher Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Science
series European Journal of Entomology
issn 1210-5759
1802-8829
publishDate 2019-02-01
description Parental care in which females attend their offspring is recorded in over 30 species of ground beetles. Despite this, there is no quantitative data on the fate of the offspring when the mother is experimentally removed. This paper investigates parental care in Pterostichus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae). The objectives of the study were to estimate: (1) egg survival when the female is removed; (2) the ability of females to defend their eggs from attack by predators; (3) the ability of females to repair a damaged nest in which egg attendance takes place. In the laboratory, the reproductive activity of P. anthracinus lasted four months (from May till August) and peaked in late June. Mean (± SE) number of eggs in each clutch was 25.25 ± 2.19. All of the egg clutches were guarded by a female. Female attendance had no effect on egg mortality due to microbial attack. The duration of embryonic development lasted on average 5.2-5.3 days, and did not differ between the groups with and without maternal care. In P. anthracinus maternal care is important in preventing egg mortality due to predators. In the laboratory the percentage mortality of eggs without maternal care due to predators was 100%. In the group in which females attended their eggs, percentage mortality of offspring due to predation was about 51%. Female ability to repair damaged nests is important in preventing dehydration and reducing predation pressure. This laboratory study provides the first quantitative data on the importance of maternal care in ground beetles in determining the survival of their offspring.
topic coleoptera
carabidae
ground beetles
pterostichus anthracinus
parental care
presocial behaviour
subsocial behaviour
predation pressure
fungal attack
parental removal
offspring survival
url https://www.eje.cz/artkey/eje-201901-0004_parental_care_and_offspring_survival_in_pterostichus_anthracinus_coleoptera_carabidae_an_experimental_stud.php
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