Do maternal burrower bugs, Sehirus cinctus Palisot (Heteroptera: Cydnidae), use spatial and chemical cues for egg discrimination?

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Abstract
Female Sehirus cinctus Palisot (Heteroptera: Cydnidae) dig shallow burrows in which they guard their eggs and provision young nymphs. Because maternal females often oviposit in close proximity to other females, they must discriminate between their own and strange burrows to avoid investing in unrelated young. Observations that foraging females adhere to precise "trails" indicate that maternal females may use pheromonal cues to locate their burrows. Egg-discrimination trials indicate that maternal females unfamiliar with a test arena do not distinguish between their own eggs and similar strange eggs. However, when maternal females were allowed 24 h experience with the test arena, they chose to guard eggs located where they had previously brooded, even if the eggs were not their own. In addition, maternal females preferred recently brooded eggs over eggs that had been isolated for 24 h. These results indicate that foraging females use spatial and chemical cues to discriminate their own eggs from strange eggs.