Topic: Tribolium castaneum

Flour beetles such as Tribolium castaneum are devastating pests of dry stored grain products, causing up to 19% loss of these commodities in the Global South. Little is known about how the nervous systems of these animals coordinate effective movement. We therefore employed novel behavioural assays combined with whole-animal and leg tracking to assess how larvae move over different types of terrain. We found that larvae move most efficiently over fibrous substrates (e.g. paper), consistent with the beetle’s original habitat of tree bark. Locomotion over flat terrain primarily involves movement