Directional versus Stabilizing Selection for Developmental Time in Natural and Laboratory Populations of Flour Beetles

Artificial selection for fast development is successful in long-established laboratory populations of Tribolium, but not in strains recently derived from natural populations. It is shown that selection against fast development in dense, synchronized cultures operates through cannibalism of early pupae by larvae. Since standard husbandry procedures for laboratory strains involve the periodic creation of dense, synchronized cultures, it is suggested that these populations are subjected to stabilizing selection for intermediate developmental time. Natural populations, on the other hand, are probably subjected to directional selection for rapid development.