Feeding and fighting behavior in Broscus cephalotes (L.)

Broscus cephalotes attacks everything: in our experiments, its most preferred prey was woodlice and ants. Co-specific beetles were attacked by a Broscus at the opening of its tube when they run across. In most cases, fights started and ended without any obvious reason. A real hunting behavior could not be observed. The fighting behavior can be characterized as catch-as-catch-can and, in our experiments, was displayed most frequently under artificial daytime conditions. It is interpreted as fighting for prey.