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Oophagy ( ) sometimes ovophagy, literally "egg eating", is the practice of embryos feeding on eggs produced by the ovary while still inside the mother's uterus. The word oophagy is formed from the classical Greek ᾠόν (ōion, egg) and classical Greek φᾱγεῖν (phāgein, to eat). In contrast, adelphophagy is the cannibalism of a multi-celled embryo. Oophagy is thought to occur in all sharks in the order Lamniformes and has been recorded in the bigeye thresher (''Alopias superciliosus''), the pelagic thresher (''A. pelagicus''), the shortfin mako (''Isurus oxyrinchus'') and the porbeagle (''Lamna nasus'') among others. It also occurs in the tawny nurse shark (''Nebrius ferrugineus''), and in the family Pseudotriakidae. This practice may lead to larger embryos or prepare it for a predatory lifestyle.〔Wourms, J. P. (1981) ''Viviparity: The maternal-fetal relationship in fishes''. Am. Zool. 21:473-515.〕 There are variations in the extent of oophagy among the different shark species. The grey nurse shark (''Carcharias taurus'') practices intrauterine cannibalism, the first developed embryo consuming both additional eggs and any other developing embryos. Slender smooth-hounds (''Gollum attenuatus''), form egg capsules which contain 30-80 ova within which only one ovum develops while all other ova are ingested and packed to an external yolk sac. The embryo then develops normally without ingesting further eggs.〔 Oophagy is also used to refer to more general egg-eating behaviours such as those practised by some snakes. Similarly, the term can be used to describe the destruction of non-queen eggs in nests of certain social wasps, bees, and ants. This is seen in the wasp species ''Polistes biglumis'' and ''Polistes humilis''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date= June 25, 1986 )〕 Oophagy has been observed in ''Leptothorax acervorum'' and ''Parachartergus fraternus'', where oophagy is practiced to increase energy circulation and consume more protein.〔Mateus, Sidnei, Fernando Barbosa Noll, and Ronaldo Zucchi. "Caste Flexibility and Variation According to the Colony Cycle in the Swarm-founding Wasp, Parachartergus Fraternus (Gribodo) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Epiponini)." ''Journal of the Kansas'' Entomological Society ''77.4 (2004): 470-83. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.''〕 ''Polistes fuscatus'' use oophagy as a method to establish a dominance hierarchy; dominant females will eat the eggs of subordinate females such that they no longer produce eggs, possibly due to the unnecessary expending of energy and resources.〔West-Eberhard, M. J. 1969 The social biology of polistine wasps. Mis . Publ.Zool. Univ. Michigan 140, 1-101〕 This behavior has also been observed in some bee species. Bee species include, ''Xylocopa sulcatipes〔Keasar, Tamar (2010). "Large carpenter bees as agricultural pollinators". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology.〕''and ''Bombus ruderatus'', where queen bees will eat the larva deposited by workers or ejected them from the nest in order to maintain dominance over the female workers. ==See also== * Siblicide 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「oophagy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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