Kasuya, E. 2000 Kin-biased dispersal behaviour in the mango shield scale, Milviscutulus mangiferae.. Animal Behaviour 59(3): 629-632.

Notes: When fitness decreases with increasing density in a habitat, dispersal behaviour is expected to evolve. To avoid competition between kin, dispersal behaviour based on kin recognition should be more likely to occur when the individuals in a habitat are closely related. This prediction was tested with first-instar larvae (crawlers) of the mango shield scale, Milviscutulus mangiferae. The body size of adult females, a measure of fecundity, was larger when only one female was present on a leaf than when two were present. When I placed two crawlers on a leaf, they emigrated more frequently when they were siblings than when they were not related. The implications of these results for kin recognition in thelytokous parthenogenetic animals are discussed.