Inter- and Intraspecific variation in cannibalism in seed bugs underlying data

Collection methods: We collected eggs from lab populations of four species of aposematic lygaeid seed bug: Lygaeus simulans, L. equestris, L. creticus and Spilostethus pandurus. Eggs were collected by storing 10 adults of both sexes in plastic ventilated tubs with food and water, checking for eggs every two-three days. For Experiments 1 and 2 we collected individuals directly from population boxes. Experiment 1 required individuals of all four species, including each of the five juvenile developmental stages and both sexes of the adult stage. Experiment 2 only required first, third and fifth instar juveniles of S. pandurus and both sexes of the adult stage. First instar S. pandurus nymphs for Experiment 3 were acquired by allowing collected eggs to hatch in tubs with food and water. Experiments examined the effect of developmental stage and species on cannibalism (Experiment 1) and the influence of starvation and developmental stage (Experiment 2) and prior egg/cannibalism experience at the first instar stage (Experiment 3) on cannibalism in S. pandurus.

File formats: Microsoft Excel Comma Separated Values Files were used to hold the data, with R files used to store the statistical analysis code.

Column name descriptions:

Experiment 1: Developmental variation in cannibalism in four species of seed bug
ID: ID number of the focal individual
Experimenter: Name of individual who conducted the experimental trial
Species: Species identity of focal individual
Instar: Developmental stage of focal individual (1-5 = juvenile stages, 6=adult)
Sex: Sex of focal individual, if adult (M= male, F= female)
Fertilised: Whether the eggs provided during a trial were fertilised or not (1=yes, 0=no)
Egg.age: Age (in number of days) of eggs provided during trials
N.eggs eaten: The number of eggs consumed by the focal individual
N. eggs.not.eaten: The number of eggs not consumed by the focal individual
Cannibalised: Whether any cannibalism was displayed (1) or not (0) by the focal individual
Mounting: Whether any mounting was displayed (1) or not (0) by the focal individual
N.scans.cannibalising: The number of scans in which cannibalism was displayed by the focal individual
N.scans.not.cannibalising: The number of scans in which cannibalism was not displayed by the focal individual
N.scans.mounting: The number of scans in which mounting was displayed by the focal individual
N.scans.not.mounting: The number of scans in which mounting was not displayed by the focal individual
N.time.cannibalising: The number of times the focal individual was observed cannibalising
N.time.mounting: The number of times the focal individual was observed mounting

Experiment 2: The influence of food availability and developmental stage on cannibalism in S. pandurus
Individual no.: ID number of the focal individual
Date: Date trial conducted
Developmental stage. F: The developmental stage of the focal individual, formatted as a discrete variable (SN= 1st instar, MN=3rd instar, LN= 5th instar, AM= adult male, AF= adult female)
Developmental stage: The developmental stage of the focal individual, formatted as a continuous variable (1-5 = juvenile stages, 6=adult)
Starved: Whether the focal individual was starved (1) or not (0)
Mounting.eggs: Whether the focal individual mounted eggs (1) or not (0)
Cannibalising.eggs: Whether the focal individual cannibalised eggs (1) or not (0)
Duration.mounting (min): The total duration of the experiment for which the focal individual displayed mounting
Duration.not.mounting (min): The total duration of the experiment for which the focal individual did not display mounting
Duration.eating (min): The total duration of the experiment for which the focal individual displayed egg eating
Duration.not.eating(min): The total duration of the experiment for which the focal individual did not display egg eating
Egg.damage: The number of eggs damaged
Total.eggs.cannibalised: The number of eggs cannibalised
Total.eggs.not.cannibalised: The number of eggs not cannibalised
yPE: The total proportion of eggs eaten out of those eggs provided
Number Eggs: The total number of eggs provided

Experiment 3: The influence of prior experience on cannibalism in S. pandurus nymphs
ID: ID number of the focal individual
Treatment: Initial treatment first instar placed in (EE= Egg exposure, NEE=No egg exposure)
Group2.0: The resulting group of the first instar nymphs following the first cannibalism trial (C= Cannibalism displayed, NC= No cannibalism displayed, NEE=No egg exposure)
Clutch: Egg clutch of focal nymph
E_age1: Age of target egg for first cannibalism trial
E_status1: Fertilisation status of target egg for first cannibalism trial (F= fertilised, U=unfertilised)
E_can1: Number of eggs cannibalised in first cannibalism trial
Nmount1: Number of scans nymph observed mounting in first cannibalism trial
Neat1: Number of scans nymph observed cannibalising in first cannibalism trial
Mount1.0: Whether the focal nymph displayed any mounting in the first cannibalism trial (1=yes, 0=no)
Canib1.0: Whether the focal nymph displayed any cannibalism in the first cannibalism trial (1=yes, 0=no)
E_age2: Age of target egg for second cannibalism trial
E_status2: Fertilisation status of target egg for second cannibalism trial (F= fertilised, U=unfertilised)
E_fed2: Number of target eggs provided in the second cannibalism trial
E_can2: Number of target eggs cannibalised in second cannibalism trial
E_nocan2: Number of eggs not cannibalised in second cannibalism trial
Nmount2: Number of scans nymph observed mounting in second cannibalism trial
Neat2: Number of scans nymph observed cannibalising in second cannibalism trial
Nnotmount2: Number of scans nymph not observed mounting in second cannibalism trial
Nnoteat2: Number of scans nymph not observed eating in second cannibalism trial
Mount2.0: Whether the focal nymph displayed any egg mounting in the second cannibalism trial (1=yes, 0=no)
Canib2.0: Whether the focal nymph displayed any cannibalism in the second cannibalism trial (1=yes, 0=no)

Statistical analysis: R version 4.5.1 was used to analyse the data. Generalised linear models were used to assess the effect of developmental stage and/or species (Experiment 1), developmental stage and/or starvation (Experiment 2) or prior egg/cannibalism experience (Experiment 3) on egg cannibalism and mounting behaviours.

Licences: This data is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en.