title: Early origin of parental care in Mesozoic carrion beetles.
abstract: The reconstruction and timing of the early stages of social evolution, such as parental care, in the fossil record is a challenge, as these behaviors often do not leave concrete traces. One of the intensely investigated examples of modern parental care are the modern burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus), a lineage that includes notable endangered species. Here we report diverse transitional silphids from the Mesozoic of China and Myanmar that provide insights into the origins of parental care. Jurassic silphids from Daohugou, sharing many defining characters of Nicrophorinae, primitively lack stridulatory files significant for parental care communications; although morphologically similar, Early Cretaceous nicrophorines from the Jehol biota possess such files, indicating that a system of parental care had evolved by this early date. More importantly, burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus have their earliest first record in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, and document early evolution of elaborate biparental care and defense of small vertebrate carcasses for their larvae. Parental care in the Early Cretaceous may have originated from competition between silphids and their predators. The rise of the Cretaceous Nicrophorinae implies a biology similar to modern counterparts that typically feed on carcasses of small birds and mammals.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Chen-Yang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605;
authors.forename: Margaret K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Thayer
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045;
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605;
authors.forename: Alfred F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and.
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ortega-Blanco
authors.affiliation: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany; and.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: No. 7 Xinghuo Road, Fengtai District, Beijing, 100070, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, People's Republic of China; dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Di-Ying
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002681:China; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D020387:Food Chain; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D002052:Myanmar; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: paleoecology; paleoethology; sociobiology