Xenocide, Suicide, and Cannibalism in Flour Beetles

Evidence is presented to support the notion that populations of the flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, are capable of adapting to a medium consisting solely of corn flour and that, after eliminating T. confusum in "competition" experiments, their numbers do not decline to the point of self-elimination. The effects of selection for fast rate of development on cannibalistic activity of T. castaneum and some aspects of cannibalism in laboratory populations are discussed.