Insects, spiders and their relatives can be attentive parents. Some species guard their eggs from predators, provide nourishment to larvae, or herd newly hatched offspring. Females generally carry out these tasks, although males share the responsibilities on occasion. Once eggs are laid, they may be endagered by other creatures seeking food, by the growth of molds and fungi, or by harsh weather conditions. To protect them, parents shield the eggs with their bodies, remove mold spores from them, or provide a steady supply of moisture by dipping eggs into a pond. Once eggs are hatched, parents attack or divert predators, signal alarms, or carry nymphs out of harm's way.
1. The purple hairdtresk, one of the few butterflies to guard their eggs, rests beside several hundred eggs deposited under a leaf.
2. A wolf spider carries a mass of young on its back as it goes about its day in search of food.
3. A female earwig, of the order Dermaptera-once wrongly thought to crawl in people's ears -keeps mold and fungus from growing on her eggs.
4. A female burrowing cricket (Anurogryllus muticus) guards two nymphs hatched inside a sealed, grass-floored brood chamber.
5. A common sawfly, of the Tenthredinidae family, oversees its eggs. Once hatched, the larvae eat the leaves of trees and shrubs while a parent hovers nearby.
6. Spinning silk strands, the poisonous Cheiracanthium japonicum spider sews a grass blade into a nest for eggs. Upon hatching, the young devour their mother.
7. A mother scorpion carries her young, born live, on her back. Eventually the young leave at night to hunt insects and spiders.
8. In some species of giant water bug of the Belostomatidae family, a male ferries eggs around on his back until they hatch. The females compete for males on which to lay eggs.
9. The giant water bug (Lethocerus americanus) wets a mass of eggs with pondwater. If allowed to dry out by inattentive parents, eggs will not hatch.
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