Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Evidence Of Population-Level Lateralized Behaviour In Giant Water Bugs, Belostoma Flumineum Say (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae): T-Maze Turning Is Left Biased, Scott Kight
Scott Kight
Lateralized behaviour occurs in diverse animals, but relatively few studies examine the phenomenon in invertebrates. Here we report a population-level left turn bias in the giant water bug Belostoma flumineum Say (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae) in an underwater T-maze. Individuals made significantly more left turns than right turns, including when they were na ̈ıve and first introduced to the maze. Water bugs also showed significantly longer runs of consecutive left turns than right turns (i.e. LLLLL). The length of these runs, however, did not increase with experience in the maze, suggesting that the effect is not the result of learning. There were …