Short review of the presocial evolution in Coleoptera

Abstract

A brief synthesis of presocial evolution in the insect order Coleoptera is presented. Most beetles are solitary, but in many species and/or higher taxa conglobations, aggregations and a wide variety of parental care types is known. The nonparental forms of inter-individual association are mostly pheromone controlled aggregations without phenotype changes. Within the range of parent-offspring relationships the most interesting sociogenetic events have been observed, and in at least seven-eight families (or “subfamilies”) a true subsocial level is attained. The parental (subsocial) evolutionary pathway often starts from a more selective egg-laying mode, “care for eggs”, that probably evolved towards “nesting”, i.e. the building of paedotrophic nests if food relocation is performed, or towards “nutritional sheltering”, if a shelter for the eggs is dug in the larval feeding substrate. A post-natal relation to the offspring is achieved when the mother (the parents) remain in the nest or near the eggs. As in th...