Abstract
Intracave distribution and dispersion patterns within a population of the troglobitic carabid beetle Rhadine subterranea were studied. Distribution was markedly heterogeneous, the beetles being almost entirely restricted to substrata of deep, uncompacted silt. Dispersion of the beetles on the silt substrata did not depart from random expectation. It is shown, however, that this is a functionally emergent pattern resulting from an intrasex repulsion related to feeding which tends to produce regularity counterbalanced by an intersex attraction related to reproduction which tends to produce contagion.
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.3.3.7
Recommended Citation
Mitchell, Robert W..
1968.
Distribution and dispersion of the troglobitic carabid beetle Rhadine subterranea.
International Journal of Speleology,
3: 271-288.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol3/iss3/7
