Data from: Transcriptomes of parents identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle

Parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is complex and,
unusually, the sex and number of parents that can be present is flexible.
Such flexibility is expected to involve specialized behaviour by the two
sexes under biparental conditions. Here, we show that offspring fare
equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present. Comparing
transcriptomes, we find a largely overlapping set of differentially
expressed genes in both uniparental and biparental females and in
uniparental males including vitellogenin, associated with reproduction,
and takeout, influencing sex-specific mating and feeding behaviour. Gene
expression in biparental males is similar to that in non-caring states.
Thus, being ‘biparental’ in N. vespilloides describes the family social
organization rather than the number of directly parenting individuals.
There was no specialization; instead, in biparental families, direct male
parental care appears to be limited with female behaviour unchanged. This
should lead to strong sexual conflict.