The evolution of parental care in the onthophagine dung beetles

There are a few areas of evolutionary biology that have progressed as rapidly as our understanding of the diversity that exists in animal mating systems (Shuster & Wade, 2003). Fundamental to this progress has been our growing appreciation of parental care, as many of the most striking differences in the reproductive behaviour of males and females are intimately linked to their involvement in the care of their young (Clutton-Brock, 1991). Sex differences in parental care play a central role in determining the intensity of sexual selection (Trivers, 1972), which, in turn, is responsible for the evolution of morphology (e.g. Hunt & Simmons, 2000), behaviour (e.g. Radford & Ridley, 2006) and physiology (e.g. Trumbo, 1997).