1978] Wood — Parental Care in Guayaquila compressa 
141 
On the 8th day of observation, both females were probed with a 
pencil until they flew off and nymphs immediately dispersed from 
the petiole to the main trunk of the plant. Within 23 min., all 
nymphs had moved down the plant 2 { /i feet and reaggregated along 
the midrib of 3 mature leaves. Consolidation into 1 aggregation 
took place during the next 17 minutes without the presence of either 
parent female. Both females made a series of short flights back to 
the host and at the end of 1 hr, one female had located nymphs while 
the other was rapidly walking up and down branches off the main 
trunk. This last female, during a 6-min. period, walked to 5 different 
branches within 12 in. of nymphs. After 24 hrs, both females were 
with nymphs, but had relocated 18 inches away from the previous 
observation. 
Adult aggregations — One aggregation of 34 teneral adults was 
observed for 10 days before dispersal. I could not determine if the 
parent female was present since coloration of teneral adults was 
similar to that of other parent females. The number of adults 
decreased during the first 5 days to 28, then to 15 during the next 4 
days, with all individuals gone on the 10th day of observation. In the 
first 5 days, 2 females deposited eggs, one on the same host, the 
other on a host 15 feet away. I failed to locate other females on eggs 
in the surrounding area during a 7-day period after complete 
dispersal. 
This adult aggregation was more sensitive to disturbance than 
females on eggs or with nymphs. On the first day of observation, all 
adults were together on the petiole of the leaf. When I accidentally 
moved the tree trunk, there was an explosive, almost synchronous 
dispersal with 3 individuals observed 10 feet away. In the following 
60 min., individuals moved back to the host and began to form 2 
aggregations near the original site. Once on the host, individuals 
walked up and down branches or flew short distances until coming 
to the one of the 2 groups where they stopped. At the end of 1 hr, 30 
insects were in the 2 groups. In the next 48 hrs, 1 aggregation 
attracted all but 5 insects from the other. When this aggregation was 
disturbed again, dispersal occurred with all 28 adults back together 
at a new site on the same plant within 24 hrs. Without further 
disruptions, this aggregation remained in the same place for 3 days. 
