"Pair bonding just means that two individual organisms will spend an extended period of time with each other and will exclude other individuals from the bond. The two individuals know that the other member has their back. Pair bonding comes with numerous benefits, including grooming, the joint defense of nest and offspring, and the sharing of food. It requires enough brain power to learn to recognize and remember one's partner."
"The male and the female will burrow into the rotting wood and form a little gallery. Over a period of hours, the two roaches chew off each other's wings and eat them. The female eats the male's wings and the male eats the female's wings. When this one-time meal is complete, it means they formed a pair."
"We very rarely see pair bonding in invertebrates, so things like insects or crustaceans or other creepy crawlies. Now, researchers believe they've found some of the first indications of pair bonding in an invertebrate. This means that these roaches, and perhaps other insects, may have more sophisticated cognition and social behavior than researchers once thought."
Salganea taiwanensis, a wood-feeding cockroach species, demonstrates pair bonding—a behavior where two organisms spend extended time together, exclude others from their bond, and provide mutual support. Pair bonding offers benefits including grooming, joint nest and offspring defense, and food sharing, requiring sufficient cognitive ability to recognize and remember partners. While common in birds, mammals, and fish, pair bonding rarely appears in invertebrates. These cockroaches engage in a unique bonding ritual: a male and female burrow into rotting wood and mutually consume each other's wings over several hours. Upon completing this exchange, the pair is considered bonded. This discovery suggests insects may possess more complex social behaviors and cognitive abilities than previously understood.
Read at www.npr.org
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