The two species of beetles used in this experiment, Tribolium confusum and Tribolium castaneum, are very similar to one another. Tribolium confusum or "confused" beetles acquired the name because it is often confused with Tribolium castaneum because of striking similarities between the two species. Some differences between the two species are that Tribolium confusum has segmented antennae that gradually and evenly increase in size, while Tribolium castaneum has similar looking antennae but with three large segments at the end. Tribolium confusum possesses a thorax with straight sides, while Tribolium castaneum has a thorax with curved sides. The Tribolium castaneum used in this experiment is a mutant strain of the species that is black in color, which helps to more easily distinguish it from the red Tribolium confusum.

There are three stages of growth in the life cycle of the beetles. The beetles start off as eggs, develop into a stage called larva that is the immature stage between an egg and t

Food availability and nutritional composition can affect population growth. They can positively or negatively affect fertility, survivorship and rate development. Additionally, populations grow while nutrients are in excess. When nutrients level off, populations level off.

The composition and nature of food can have an effect on growth, survival, reproductive success, etc. of an organism. The nature and composition of food used in this experiment could be important in understanding the growth of the beetles. Whole wheat flour is a generally coarse-textured flour that is ground from the entire wheat kernel. It contains bran, wheat germ and the endosperm. All purpose wheat flour is made from finely ground endosperm of wheat kernel. Bran and wheat germ are separated during the milling process. All purpose flour has a finer texture than whole wheat flour and is less dense and also less condensed. Rye flour is heavier, more dense and darker than the other two types of flour. It also contains less glutens (so therefore less proteins) than the other two types of flour.

Beetles reproduce profusely. A female flour beetle can live at least a year and lay 400-600 eggs in one lifetime. This leads to problems of overcrowding and the phenomena of increase in the incidence of cannibalism. Cannibalism in flour beetles is where adults beetles eat eggs, and larvae eat eggs, pupae

Some topics in this essay:
, Procedure Tribolium, tribolium confusum, tribolium castaneum, yeast 95%, wheat flour, confusum beetles, tribolium confusum beetles, 5% brewer’s yeast, brewer’s yeast 95%, tribolium confusum tribolium, 95% rye, confusum tribolium, 5% brewer’s, 95% wheat, 5% yeast 95%, brewer’s yeast,