Beetles turn eggs into shields to protect their young from body-snatchers

Some parents give their children a head start in life by lavishing them with money or opportunities. The mother seed beetle (Mimosestes amicus) does so by providing her children with shields to defend them from body-snatchers. A female seed beetle abandons her eggs after laying them. Until they hatch, they are vulnerable to body-snatching parasites, like the wasp Uscana semifumipennis. It specialises on seed beetle eggs and lays its own eggs inside. Once the wasp grub hatches, it devours its host. The wasp problem is so severe that around 70 percent of the beetles’ eggs can be infested. But the mother seed beetles have a defence, and it is a unique one. Joseph Deas and Molly Hunter from the University of Arizona have found that they can protect an egg from this grisly fate by laying another one on top. Sometimes, the mothers lay entire stacks of two or three ...