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Laboratory Studies Of Predatory Behaviour In Two Subspecies Of The Carabid Cave Beetle: Neaphaenops Tellkampfi, David M. Griffith

International Journal of Speleology

Comparative studies on the foraging behaviour of Neaphaenops tellkampfi tellkampfi and N. t. meridionalis demonstrated adaptation to different environments. The southern subspecies N. t. meridionalis, which is found in wet muddy caves where cave cricket eggs are unlikely prey, did not locate buried cricket eggs and dug fewer and less accurate holes in the lab than the nominate subspecies. N. t. tellkampfi, which reaches high densities in sandy deep cave environments where cricket eggs are the only viable prey, gained significantly greater weight than meridionalis when presented buried cricket eggs as prey. There was no difference with respect …