Resource concealment and the evolution of parental care in burying beetles

• Published in: Journal of zoology (1987) 2021-11, Vol.315 (3), p.175-182
• Main Authors: Trumbo, S. T., Sikes, D. S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beetles; Burying; burying beetle; Burying behavior; caching; Carcasses; Chemical stimuli; Coleoptera; comparative biology; Competition; Competitors; Evolution; Flight; Insects; microbially derived volatiles; Microorganisms; Nesting; Nicrophorus; Odors; Odour; Olfactory stimuli; Parental behaviour; parental care; Scavengers; Scavenging; Silphidae; Species; vertebrate scavengers; Vertebrates
• ISSN: 0952-8369; 1469-7998
• DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12916

Comparative experimental study of species can provide insight into behavioral transitions in evolution. The insects offer many such examples for the analysis of parental care. We examined three distantly related species of Nicrophorus and two non‐Nicrophorus silphid beetles for their ability to conceal odors from a carcass that cue competitors that attempt to usurp the resource. We predicted that species with well‐developed parental care would exhibit a heightened ability to conceal a resource from competitors, even when differences in burying behavior and direct defense were experimentally eliminated. Carcasses were provided to male–female pairs in the laboratory for 3 days and then experimentally buried in the field, without parents, to assess discovery by Nicrophorus and vertebrate scavengers. The burying beetles Ni. orbicollis, Ni. sayi and Ni. pustulatus were far more successful in hiding a prepared resource (>76%) from free‐flying Nicrophorus than the less parental Ptomascopus morio or Necrophila americana (