Discussion
Ask a question about 'Mass provisioning' Start a new discussion about 'Mass provisioning' Answer questions from other users |
Mass provisioning is a term used in
entomologyEntomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
to refer to a form of parental behavior in which an adult (most commonly a
hymenoptera Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
n such as a
beeBees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
or
waspThe term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
) stocks all of the food for each offspring in a small chamber (a "cell")
prior to laying the egg. In such cases, the food is typically in the form of paralyzed or dead prey items (in predatory wasps), or masses of mixed pollen and nectar (in bees); only rarely are other sorts of food resources used (such as floral oils, leaves, dung, or carrion). The most well-known examples from outside the Hymenoptera are various lineages of
dung beetleDung beetles are beetles that feed partly or exclusively on feces. All of these species belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea; most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae. This beetle can also be referred to as the scarab beetle. As most species of...
s, which typically provision with either leaves or dung. Once the provisions are in place and the egg is laid, the cell is almost invariably sealed, to protect the developing brood (Wilson, E.O. 1971).
In a few extreme cases, such as
stingless beeStingless bees, sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees, comprising the tribe Meliponini . They belong in the family Apidae, and are closely related to common honey bees, carpenter bees, orchid bees and bumblebees...
s (which are eusocial), the number of cells in a single nest can number in the thousands, but more typically a given nest will contain either a single cell, or only a small number (fewer than 10) (Wilson, E.O. 1971).
Many of the more well-known eusocial insects, such as
antAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s and
honey beeHoney bees are a subset of bees in the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Honey bees are the only extant members of the tribe Apini, all in the genus Apis...
s, practice
progressive provisioningProgressive provisioning is a term used in entomology to refer to a form of parental behavior in which an adult feeds its larvae directly after they have hatched, feeding each larva repeatedly until it has completed development...
, where the larvae are fed directly and continually during their development (Wilson, E.O. 1971).