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Unhatched Eggs (unhatched + egg)
Selected AbstractsInfluence of chorion ingestion on the performance of Ascia monuste and its association with cannibalismECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 6 2001Helen C. H. Barros-Bellanda Summary 1. In some lepidopterans, the newly hatched caterpillars feed on chorion (animal protein) as their first food. This is also a frequent behaviour of newly hatched caterpillars of Ascia monuste. 2. According to some parameters tested (time for pupation, number of adults, male imago weight, and fifth-instar ingestion), chorion ingestion by first-instar larvae affects adult performance positively. The ingestion of ultraviolet-sterilised chorion provided the same positive effect on performance. It is thus suggested that young caterpillars may be benefiting from chorion nutritionally, and that chorion ingestion is a chain of events that leads to positive effects on insect performance. 3. Cannibalism in A. monuste was observed in newly hatched caterpillars and is related to the chorion ingestion behaviour. A condition for this to occur was the interval of time of hatching, which means that, if a group of caterpillars hatches very much before another group, once the caterpillars have ingested the chorion of their own eggs, there is a tendency for them to ingest the chorion of other eggs (including unhatched eggs) and, consequently, practice cannibalism. 4. Ascia monuste immatures are considered to be herbivorous, however it is important to know that they eat animal tissue (chorion and conspecific eggs). [source] Assessing the Semelparity Hypothesis: Egg-guarding and Fecundity in the Malaysian Treehopper Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsisETHOLOGY, Issue 10 2002Ulrich E. Stegmann According to the semelparity hypothesis, iteroparous insects should provide either no maternal care or less care than related semelparous species. We present field data on reproductive output and maternal care in the Southeast Asian treehopper Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsis (Mt. Kinabalu, Borneo) relevant to a preliminary assessment of the hypothesis. In a mark-recapture experiment, more females than expected under semelparity were found to have oviposited a second clutch (37%). Female longevity was a of 75 d. Both these estimates were highly conservative. Oviposition was successive resulting in a of 46 eggs per clutch. Females provided care for eggs only, occasionally scraping their legs along the sides of the clutch apparently attempting to deter Brachygrammatella sp. egg parasitoids (Trichogrammatidae). Females straddled their clutch for a of 27 d, i.e. until 8 d after the beginning of first instar hatching. First instars hatched successively over a period of 11 d. When a female deserted her clutch, it contained about 37% yet unhatched eggs. Egg-guarding effectively reduced egg mortality: the earlier a female was experimentally removed from her clutch the higher the egg mortality. Displacement experiments demonstrated that egg-guarding is a behaviour actively maintained despite disturbances and specifically directed towards the egg clutch but not to the feeding site. We interpret our findings as being in accordance with the weaker claim of the semelparity hypothesis, i.e. the iteroparous P. tristaniopsis provided less maternal care than semelparous membracid species. Continued female feeding is discussed as a mechanism to display some level of care despite iteroparity. [source] Brood reduction in the Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegenaIBIS, Issue 2 2003Janusz Kloskowski Brood reduction in Red-necked Grebes Podiceps grisegena breeding on fish ponds in south-eastern Poland occurred either through the desertion of the last-laid eggs after partial hatching of the clutch and/or the selective starvation of the smallest chicks. Abandonment of unhatched eggs was not influenced by the number of young already hatched or by the breeding date, but it was more likely in larger clutches and in families suffering chick starvation. Chicks from the largest broods had a higher probability of survival until fledging than those from single-chick broods. Larger chicks obtained food more successfully through better positioning during food delivery. In families that did not suffer brood reduction, chicks were better provisioned with food than in reduced broods. Although allocation of food among chicks in reduced broods was more skewed to the disadvantage of the younger siblings, dominant chicks obtained less food prior to brood reduction than dominant siblings in unreduced broods. Sibling aggression did not differ between unreduced and reduced broods before death of the weakest chicks. Post-laying adjustment of the number of offspring to prevailing feeding conditions occurred at two stages: by parental manipulation of the number of hatched eggs at the time when parents and chicks leave the nest and by competition between chicks. It is suggested that late egg desertion may be an adaptive mechanism of brood-size adjustment, when elimination of the weakest chicks through sibling competition is not very efficient. [source] Egg of the Karner Blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis): Morphology and elemental analysisJOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Elizabeth P. Nickles Abstract Most insect eggshells are ornately sculptured; that of the Karner Blue butterfly, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, exhibits a series of interwoven ridges and depressions. Scanning electron microscopic views of the shell show that the patterning resides in the outer chorion, while the inner vitelline membrane is relatively flat and featureless. We here describe the morphology of the egg and introduce a physical technique, use of a Dynamitron accelerator, to identify and localize elements in the eggshell. Most elements present are represented in the chorion, but sulfur appears restricted to the vitelline membrane. The micropyle is particularly rich in calcium and, in unhatched eggs, phosphorus as well. J. Morphol. 251:140,148, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Genetic parentage assessment in the crayfish Orconectes placidus, a high-fecundity invertebrate with extended maternal brood careMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 10 2002D. Walker Abstract Microsatellite data have recently been introduced in the context of genetic maternity and paternity assignments in high-fecundity fish species with single-parent-tended broods. Here we extend such analyses to an aquatic invertebrate, the crayfish Orconectes placidus, in which gravid females carry large numbers of offspring. Genetic parentage analyses of more than 900 progeny from 15 wild crayfish broods revealed that gravid females were invariably the exclusive dams of the offspring they tended (i.e. there was no allomaternal care), and that most of the females had mated with multiple (usually two) males who contributed sometimes highly skewed numbers of offspring to a brood. Within any multiply sired brood, the unhatched eggs (or the hatched juveniles) from different fathers were randomly distributed across the mother's brood space. All of these genetic findings are discussed in the light of observations on the mating behaviours and reproductive biology of crayfishes. [source] | ||||||||||