Data from: Unbalanced biparental care during colony foundation in two subterranean termites

Parental care is a major component of reproduction in social organisms,
particularly during the foundation steps. Because investment into parental
care is often costly, each parent is predicted to maximize its fitness by
providing less care than its partner. However, this sexual conflict is
expected to be low in species with lifelong monogamy, because the fitness
of each parent is typically tied to the other’s input. Somewhat
surprisingly, the outcomes of this tug-of-war between maternal and
paternal investments have received important attention in vertebrate
species, but remain less known in invertebrates. In this study, we
investigated how queens and kings share their investment into parental
care and other social interactions during colony foundation in two
termites with lifelong monogamy: the invasive species Reticulitermes
flavipes and the native species R. grassei. Behaviors of royal pairs were
recorded during six months using a non-invasive approach. Our results
showed that queens and kings exhibit unbalanced investment in terms of
grooming, antennation, trophallaxis and vibration behavior. Moreover, both
parents show behavioral differences towards their partner or their
descendants. Our results also revealed differences among species, with R.
flavipes exhibiting shorter periods of grooming and antennation towards
eggs or partners. They also did more stomodeal trophallaxis and less
vibration behavior. Overall, this study emphasizes that despite lifelong
monogamy, the two parents are not equally involved in the measured forms
of parental care and suggests that kings might be specialized in other
tasks. It also indicates that males could play a central, yet poorly
studied role in the evolution and maintenance of the eusocial
organization.