image: A dissected active C. nigrolabiata brood nest with three completed brood cells and one cell currently being provisioned. A female (left) and male (right) are present in the burrow. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Vít Bureš.
Researchers report that Ceratina nigrolabiata bees engage in biparental care and social monogamy to increase offspring protection; males guard brooding nests while females forage, even when most of the offspring are not related to the guard males, and given that female C. nigrolabiata are polyandrous, the findings suggest competition among males for females and that biparental care benefits male bees by increasing mating opportunities.
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Article #18-10092: "Polyandrous bee provides extended offspring care biparentally as an alternative to monandry based eusociality," by Michael Mikát et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Michael Mikát, Charles University, Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC; tel: +420-721589730; email: michael.mikat@gmail.com; Jakub Straka, Charles University, Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC; tel: +420-728445448; e-mail: straka.jakub.1@gmail.com
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences