Progressive provisioning

Definition

A form of parental care in which an adult repeatedly feeds developing offspring directly after hatching, continuing until the young complete development. The food—typically masticated or immobilized prey, or regurgitated nectar and pollen—is delivered to larvae in multiple episodes rather than being provided all at once. In insects, this behavior is largely restricted to eusocial Hymenoptera (ants, social bees, and social wasps) and certain solitary wasps; it contrasts with the more common mass provisioning, where all food is supplied before or at egg-laying.

Etymology

From 'progressive' (proceeding by successive stages) and 'provisioning' (supplying food), describing the incremental delivery of nourishment.

Example

A worker honey bee (Apis mellifera) visits a larval cell dozens of times, each time depositing a small droplet of royal jelly or worker jelly, adjusting the food quality and quantity as the larva grows.

Synonyms

• serial provisioning

Related Terms

• Mass provisioning
• parental care
• eusociality
• Trophallaxis
• regurgitation feeding
• larval nutrition

Usage Notes

Distinguished from mass provisioning by the temporal pattern of food delivery: progressive provisioning involves repeated feeding episodes throughout development, whereas mass provisioning supplies all food in a single initial cache. The term is sometimes used more broadly in vertebrate biology but retains its specific meaning in entomology. Not applicable to termites, whose young are self-feeding. Some authors restrict the term to cases where the adult actively manipulates food, excluding simple guarding of stored resources.