page_title: Parental care
section_title: In invertebrates
hierarchical_section_title: Parental care / In groups of animals / In invertebrates
caption_attribution_description: w:Abedus indentatus species of w:Giant Water Bug. This is the male of the species, which during the cold winter carries the eggs of the female on its back:[1]
context_page_description: Parental care is a behavioural and evolutionary strategy adopted by some animals, involving a parental investment being made to the evolutionary fitness of offspring. Patterns of parental care are widespread and highly diverse across the animal kingdom. There is great variation in different animal groups in terms of how parents care for offspring, and the amount of resources invested by parents. For example, there may be considerable variation in the amount of care invested by each sex, where females may invest more in some species, males invest more in others, or investment may be shared equally. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to describe this variation and patterns in parental care that exist between the sexes, as well as among species.
  Parental care may refer to any behaviour that contributes to offspring survival. Forms of care may include the preparing of a physical rearing environment, the provisioning of offspring or the defending of offspring from predators. Species such as ectothermic vertebrates may produce self-sufficient young, and thus no parental care is required.
context_section_description: Parental care is not frequently observed in invertebrate species. In Dipterans, oviposition is instead commonly observed. Adults lay their eggs before leaving them to hatch and develop into larva, then pupa, then adults. For example, Phormia regina adults lay their eggs preferentially on carrion and corpses.  Though biparental and male-only care are rarely observed, female-only care does exist in some invertebrates. 
  Some insects, including the Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps), invest substantial effort in caring for their young. The type and amount of care invested varies widely. Solitary wasps such as the potter wasps (Eumeninae) build nests for their young, provisioning them with food, often caterpillars, caught by the mother. The nests are then sealed, and the young live on the food until they leave the nest as adults. In contrast, social wasps and honeybees raise young in substantial colonies, with eggs laid mainly by queens (mothers), and the young cared for mainly by workers (sisters of the young).
  Outside the Hymenoptera, parental care is found among the burying beetles and the magnificent salt beetle. Subdued forms of parental care are also seen in the Lepidoptera and various other plant feeding insects, with females laying eggs on plant species the offspring can best feed and develop on. Crickets have also been known to lay eggs in optimal environments for the young.
  Many species of Hemiptera take care of the young. In the Belostomatidae family there are examples of paternal care, for instance in the genus Abedus.
caption: Male giant water bug Abedus indentatus with eggs on his back
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