Caste polyphenism in social insects is regulated by social interactions among colony members. Trophallaxis is one of the most frequently observed interactions, but no studies have been conducted identifying the intrinsic ...

Previous research has found that the presence of grandparents, particularly grandmothers, is often positively associated with child survival. Little research has explored the potential mechanisms driving these associations. ...

Paternal care can be maintained under sexual selection, if it helps in attracting more mates. We tested the hypothesis in two giant water bug species,Appasus majorandAppasus japonicus, that male parental care is sexually ...

How to optimally allocate time, energy and investment in an effort to maximize one’s reproductive success is a fundamental problem faced by all organisms. This effort is complicated when the production of each additional ...

Animals communicating via scent often deposit composite signals that incorporate odorants from multiple sources however, the function of mixing chemical signals remains understudied. We tested both a ‘multiple-messages’ ...

Behavioural plasticity can drive the evolution of new traits in animals. In oviparous species, plasticity in oviposition behaviour could promote the evolution of new egg traits by exposing them to different selective ...

The ability to change coloration allows animals to modify their patterning to suit a specific function. Many freshwater fishes, for example, can appear cryptic by altering the dispersion of melanin pigment in the skin to ...

Conspicuous coloration, which presumably makes prey more visible to predators, has intrigued researchers for long. Contrastingly coloured, conspicuous striped patterns are common among lizards and other animals, but their ...

Brood parasites exploit their host in order to increase their own fitness. Typically, this results in an arms race between parasite trickery and host defence. Thus, it is puzzling to observe hosts that accept parasitism ...

There is increasing evidence that females can somehow improve their offspring fitness by mating with multiple males, but we understand little about the exact stage(s) at which such benefits are gained. Here, we measure ...