Biparental care is predominant and beneficial to parents in the burying beetle Nicrophorus orbicollis (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Parenting strategies can be flexible within a species and may have varying fitness effects. Understanding this flexibility and its fitness consequences is important for understanding why parenting strategies evolve. In the present study, we investigate the fitness consequences of flexible parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus orbicollis, a species known for its advanced provisioning behaviour of regurgitated vertebrate carrion to offspring by both sexes. We show that, even when a parent is freely allowed to abandon the carcass at any point in time, biparental post-hatching care is the most common pattern of care adopted in N. orbicollis. Furthermore, two parents together raised more offspring than single parents of either sex, showing that the presence of the male can directly influence parental fitness even in the absence of competitors. This contrasts with studies in other species of burying beetle, where biparental families do not differ in offspring number. This may explain wh...

同一物种的育儿策略可具备灵活性，且对适合度（fitness）会产生各异的影响。明晰此类策略的灵活性及其适合度效应，对于理解育儿策略的演化动因至关重要。本研究以黑负葬甲（Nicrophorus orbicollis）为研究对象——该物种因雌雄双亲均会向后代投喂反刍的脊椎动物腐肉，而以先进的育幼投喂行为闻名——旨在探究灵活育儿策略所带来的适合度效应。研究结果显示，即便允许双亲在任意时间自由弃置腐肉育幼载体，双亲共同参与的孵化后育幼模式仍是黑负葬甲最常见的育幼方式。此外，双亲共同抚育时培育的后代数量多于任一性别的单亲抚育个体，这表明即便无竞争者存在，雄性配偶的存在仍可直接影响双亲的适合度。这一结论与其他埋葬甲虫物种的相关研究结果相悖——后者中双亲抚育家庭的后代数量并无显著差异。这或可解释……