Reposted by Vincent Doublet
🦗 New paper in Animal Behaviour.
In European earwigs, females isolated too early were less likely to lay eggs, took longer to lay them, produced smaller clutches, and were more likely to fail completely.
Such costs could help maintain prolonged social living.
📄 authors.elsevier.com/a/1nqcjmjMDuJ5
![(A) An adult female in the field on Sicyos angulatus. (B) Back view of an adult female reared on cucumber, whose hindleg organs are covered with fungal hyphae (arrowheads). (C) Magnified image of the hindleg organ. (D to L) Morphology of hind tibia of adult male [(D) to (F)], immature adult female [(G) to (I)], and mature adult female [(J) to (L)]. [(D), (G), and (I)] Brightfield images. [(E), (H), and (K)] Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. [(F), (I), and (L)] Magnified SEM images. (M to O) Peculiar behavior of egg-laying adult female. After laying each egg (M), the female rhythmically scratches the hyphae-covered hindleg organ with tarsal claws of the opposite hindleg (N) and then rubs the egg surface with the claws in a skillful manner (O). Also see movie S1. (P to R) Egg mass covered with fungal hyphae at 0-day (P), 3-day (Q), and 10-day (R) intervals after oviposition. Reddish color of 10-day eggs reflects the body color of developing nymphs inside.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vqgovau5gkirnk3ss5qwjdmz/bafkreiatozcclrv3q5pr2susooiojtvkwr6kwnd22hwxh3ijzh7lpi276q)
