Entomology, Department of
Date of this Version
2016
Citation
The Coleopterists Bulletin, 70(1): 181–184. 2016.
Abstract
Patterns of mandible chirality have been virtually unexplored in beetles, apart from a single study in 2010. Here we present the mandible chirality trends found in 58 beetle species representing the families Carabidae (52 species), Cerambycidae (three species), and Silphidae (three species) that display overlapping mandibles. Mandible chirality was not random in the groups examined, all of which exhibited a dominant trend towards left-superiority. The degree to which each taxonomic group displayed the left-superior trend differed, with tiger beetles showing the greatest dominance (99%) and longhorned beetles the weakest (71%).