1. How does Alonzo propose to test her heart-warming, estrogenic, clever belief?

2. Though Alonzo is, apparently, not surprised by the researchers' results, have we explored the range of possible explanations? How might we test alternative explanations...particularly, ones that confirm our biases and/or make us, and others, feel good and/or the explanations for which we are rewarded.

3. Clearly, based on first principles of evolutionary ecology, there is nothing, a priori, bizarre about males behaving in ways that appear inconsistent with expectation [as long as it can be demonstrated that the [reproductive] benefits of the unexpected, conditional behavior outweigh its costs...beyond some threshold level]. However, perhaps apparently nice and/or friendly and/or altruistic, etc., behaviors represent cryptic selfishness. Or, if we remove our biases about what we are observing and what we should see, maybe such behaviors are not cryptic but overtly selfish.

4. Is it possible, for example, that male behavior[s] such as that reported for these snails, represent defense against predators? that the non-related eggs somehow benefit the male's direct reproduction? that the "egg display" diminishes intra-specific (e.g., mates) and/or inter-specific (e.g., food) competition.

5. Bottom line...there are SO MANY potentially robust combinations of evolutionary explanations for these reported and related phenomena. Why limit our search to one or a few preferred, popular, undemonstrated ones? Cui bono?

Blog: http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbjones1943