Maternal food regurgitation to nymphs in earwigs (Forficula auricularia)
Maternal food regurgitation to nymphs in earwigs (Forficula auricularia)
复制标题
母体食物反流至蠼螋若虫（Forficula aurillaryia）
DOI：
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发表时间：
2008
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. Kölliker
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Staerkle;M. Kölliker
在(亚)群居昆虫中，亲代食物反流作为一种形式的亲代照顾的发生还很少被研究，而且很大程度上是基于过去的和间接的证据。然而，理解调节父母照顾益处的行为机制对于推进家庭互动演变的研究至关重要。在这里，我们报告了一项研究的结果，在这项研究中，我们通过实验测试了欧洲小豹(耳叶蜂)雌性将食物反流到它们的若虫的假设。采用一种以食用染料为色标的简易实验方法，将若虫取食的两种成分--母体反食和若虫自食分离开来。两种不同的食用染料分别被用来标记提供给耳朵妈妈和若虫的食物。通过分析若虫肠道内容物的颜色，我们证明了从母亲到若虫的显著食物转移。这项研究明确地证明了母体食物反流存在于耳机中，并提出了一种在昆虫父母照料和家庭相互作用研究中追踪母体食物反流的简单和容易应用的技术。
The occurrence of parental food regurgitation as a form of parental care in (sub-) social insects has been little studied and is largely based on anectodal and indirect evidence. However, understanding the behavioural mechanisms mediating the benefit of parental care is critical to advance research on the evolution of family interactions. Here, we report results from a study where we experimentally tested the hypothesis that European earwig (Forficula auricularia) females regurgitate food to their nymphs. We used a simple experimental method based on food dyes as colour markers to separate maternal food regurgitation and nymphal self-feeding as the two components of food intake by nymphs. Two different food dyes were used to label the food offered to the earwig mother and the nymphs respectively. By analysing the colour of the gut content of the nymphs, we demonstrate significant food transfer from the mother to the nymphs. This study demonstrates unambiguously that maternal food regurgitation exists in earwigs and presents a simple and easily applicable technique to trace maternal food regurgitation in the study of insect parental care and family interactions.