Eur. J. Entomol. 103 (1): 245-248, 2006 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2006.027

Resource guarding by Ptomascopus morio: Simple parental care in the Nicrophorinae (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Seizi SUZUKI1, Masahiro NAGANO2
1 Ecology and Systematics, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan; e-mail: seizi@res.agr.hokudai.ac.jp
2 Echigo-Matsunoyama Museum of Natural Science, 712-2 Matsukuchi, Matsunoyama-machi, Niigata 942-1411, Japan

Nicrophorine beetles use small vertebrate carrion for breeding resource. While Nicrophorus spp. have highly developed biparental care, no form of parental care is recorded for Ptomascopus spp. We examined two effects of resource guarding by Ptomascopus morio. The presence of parents, especially the female, reduced the number of fly larvae on chicken carrion. Parents also enhanced the survival of brood faced with predation by the rove beetle, Ontholestes gracilis. In 6 out of 20 trials, the rove beetle predators were killed by Ptomascopus morio parents. We conclude that Ptomascopus morio has a simple, and possibly primitive form of parental care.

Keywords: Coleoptera, Silphidae, parental care, comparative method, resource guarding, predation, Nicrophorus, Ptomascopus, Ontholestes

Received: May 6, 2005; Revised: July 13, 2005; Accepted: July 13, 2005; Published: January 30, 2006  Show citation

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SUZUKI, S., & NAGANO, M. (2006). Resource guarding by Ptomascopus morio: Simple parental care in the Nicrophorinae (Coleoptera: Silphidae). EJE, 103(1), 245-248. doi: 10.14411/eje.2006.027
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