Description and photographs of cricket parental care in the wild

By

Mcneil, Darin J.
Erregger, Bettina

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-3-23

Original Publication

Journal of orthoptera research : JOR

Volume

30

Series / Issue

Issue: 1

Pages

27--30

Subjects

Behavior , Eggs , Honduras , nymphs , Orthoptera , short-tailed cricket

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Philadelphia, Penn Orthopterists' Society 1992-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.30.52079

 

Abstract

Although certain forms of parental care are relatively widespread phenomena among insects, within Orthoptera, parental care is rare. Short-tailed burrowing crickets (Anurogryllus spp.) are among the few members of this order for which extensive parental care has been documented. However, accounts of parental care in Anurogryllus have been largely under laboratory conditions, and observations of this behavior in the wild are rare. Herein we present photographic observations from a mountain slope in Honduras where we discovered an active Anurogryllus brood chamber where an adult female was tending her brood. We present these results in the context of parental care in insects and compare our observations with those reported in past literature published on Anurogryllus crickets’ parental behavior.