PARENTAL CARE IN GUAYAQUILA COMPRESSA 
WALKER (HOMOPTERA: MEMBRACIDAE)* 
By T. K. Wood 
Box 1224, Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio 45177 
Introduction 
Egg guarding or parental care is common in the Heteroptera. In 
the Hemipteran families studied (Bequaert 1925, Eberhard 1975, 
Melber and Schmidt 1975, 1977), most females desert their offspring 
before they reach maturity. Typically, parental investment in off- 
spring is provided by females, but in the families Reduviidae 
(Ralston 1977) and Belostomatidae (Smith 1976), they are replaced 
by males. In the Homoptera, only females in the Membracidae 
(Hinton 1976, Wood 1974, 1976a, b, 1977a) and closely related 
families (Brown 1975) provide parental care of offspring. My studies 
(unpublished) and those by Hinton (1977) indicate female parental 
care is common in this family, particularly in the new world tropics. 
My studies of 3 membracid species provide evidence for 2 major 
types of parental care in the family. In the 1st type, exemplified by 
Umbonia crassicornis Amyot and Serville and Platycotis vittata F., 
females remain on eggs until hatch and make a series of feeding slits 
for nymphs in the branch of the host plant. First instars move off 
the egg mass and aggregate along these slits with the female 
positioned below. Parent females actively maintain aggregated 
nymphs and defend them from potential predators such as adult 
coccinelids. Successful maturation in the field depends on both 
nymphs and the parent female remaining together on the same 
branch until offspring become adults (Wood 1974, 1976a, b). 
Entylia bactriana Germar exemplifies the 2nd type of parental 
investment where the role of the parent female is reduced to the 
protection of eggs and the 1st two instars. Presumably, reduction of 
female investment is brought by mutualistic ant associations in this 
species. Although females are capable of protecting eggs and 1st to 
2nd instar offspring, protection is enhanced if ants are in attendance. 
When females desert 1st to 2nd instars, nymphal maturbation in the 
field depends on protection provided by ants (Wood 1977a). 
* Manuscript received by the editor July 26, 1978. 
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