Abstract
Native Bugs of the Genus Elasmucha and their Parental Care This article describes the maternal care of the Parent Bug Elasmucha grisea (main host plants: birch tree or alder), Blueberry Shield Bug Elasmucha ferrugata (main host plant: heathberry) and the Spotted Breeding Bug Elasmucha fieberi (main host plant: birch tree) from the family Prick Bugs (Acanthosomatidae). Females straddle their eggs and young nymphs whilst showing specific defensive behaviour against various invertebrate predators.
Defensive behaviour of the female includes body movements such as rotation, tilting, wing fanning and attacking, which may be physiologically costly. Literature sources and our experiments in an insectarium show, in some cases, that there is a possibility of the Parent Bug offspring surviving without maternal care.
The Parent Bug female straddles her eggs until they develop to the 3rd instar; in the case of the Blueberry Shield Bug and the Spotted Breeding Bug to the 2nd instar. The females of this species accompany their offspring in their first instars on the food search.
In the insectarium under laboratory conditions we observed that the Parent Bug and Blueberry Shield Bug had successfully adopted an alien clutch of their own species. Reciprocal successful adoptions of clutches between females of the Parent Bug and the Spotted Breeding Bug are possible.
It is evident that these species are very efficient and often used for various ethological experiments and observations. This allows teachers on their field trips with pupils and students to easily demonstrate an interesting example of parental care in the insect kingdom.