Reply to Portman: Mate guarding, sib guarding, and biparental care in bees

The letter from Portman (1) regarding our PNAS article about the biparental bee (2) is an excellent contextual addition to male behavior in bees because the male role in hymenopteran societies is generally overlooked (3) and discussion about it can improve scientific awareness. Portman (1) creates a summarization of examples of male presence in nests. Although the cited articles are very interesting, most of them are anecdotal observations based on a few observed individuals and without any rigorous samples that would allow statistical analysis. Therefore, it is impossible to conclude with certainty that biparental care is present in the species studied … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: michael.mikat{at}gmail.com. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1