Cryptic extended brood care in the facultatively eusocial sweat bee Megalopta genalis.

ABSTRACT: As a result of different brood cell provisioning strategies, nest-making insects may differ in the extent to which adults regularly provide extended parental care to their brood beyond nest defense. Mass-provisioning species cache the entire food supply needed for larval development prior to the oviposition and typically seal the brood cell. It is usually assumed that there is no regular contact between the adult(s) and brood. Here, we show that the bee, Megalopta genalis, expresses a form of cryptic brood care, which would not be observed during normal development. Following experimental injections of different provisioning materials into brood cells, foundresses reopened manipulated cells and the brood were aborted in some cases, implying that the foundresses assessed conditions w

SUBMITTER: Quinones AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4469088 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature