The males of the giant water bug, Kirkaldya deyrolli, care for egg masses on the emergent vegetation above the water surface in aquatic environments. A previous study reported that attending males supply the eggs with water and guard them against mature females (infanticide) until hatching. That study additionally concluded that males staying on the egg mass for longer than necessary may be a counterstrategy against females considering infanticide. In the present study, laboratory experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of conspecific females on paternal care during the egg-attending period using “with-” and “without-female” treatments. The hatching rates of eggs guarded by males with or without the presence of females were not significantly different. However, the proportion of males on the egg mass was significantly higher when the females were present than when not. We conclude that male behavior may be a counterstrategy against infanticidal females, in which males avoid and reduce the risk of detection by climbing out of the water when females are present.

巨型水虫Kirkaldya deyrolli的雄性, 照顾水生环境中水面以上挺水植被上的卵块。先前的一项研究报告称，在场的雄性会为卵供水，并在孵化前保护它们免受成熟雌性（杀婴）的侵害。该研究还得出结论，雄性在卵块上停留的时间超过必要时间，可能是对付考虑杀婴的雌性的一种反制策略。在本研究中，进行了实验室实验，以使用“有”和“无雌性”处理来评估同种雌性在卵子参与期间对父亲照顾的影响。在有或没有雌性存在的情况下，由雄性看守的卵的孵化率没有显着差异。然而，当雌性存在时，雄性在卵块中的比例明显高于不存在时。