High Repeatability of Anti-Predator Responses and Resting Metabolic Rate in a Beetle Indrikis Krams & Inese Kivleniece & Aare Kuusik & Tatjana Krama & Todd M. Freeberg & Raivo Mänd & Ljubova Sivacova & Markus J. Rantala & Marika Mänd Revised: 19 July 2013 / Accepted: 24 July 2013 / Published online: 7 August 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract Measures of repeatability are essential for understanding behavioral consis- tency and individual differences in behavior, i.e. animal personalities. We studied anti- predator responses of the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) and performed behavioral tests in plastic containers representing a typical laboratory environment of T. molitor . Behavioral tests were repeated in Eppendorf test tubes where we also measured resting metabolic rate (RMR). Results show that the response latency to a threatening/startling stimulus, and the total time spent in the state of tonic immobility, correlated across the tests. The behavioral responses were repeatable and RMR covaried phenotypically with personality: we found a negative correlation between response latency time and time spent immobile, a positive correlation between response latency and RMR, and a negative correlation between RMR and total time spent immobile. These correlations were also similar across trials performed in the Eppendorf test tubes and the plastic containers. Keywords Anti-predator responses . behavioral syndrome . resting metabolic rate . Tenebrio molitor . pace-of-life hypothesis J Insect Behav (2014) 27:57–66 DOI 10.1007/s10905-013-9408-2 I. Krams (*) : R. Mänd Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu 51014, Estonia e-mail: indrikis.krams@ut.ee I. Krams : I. Kivleniece : T. Krama : L. Sivacova Institute of Systematic Biology, University of Daugavpils, Vienības 13, Daugavpils 5401, Latvia A. Kuusik : M. Mänd Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Science, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu 51014, Estonia T. M. Freeberg Department of Psychology and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Austin Peay Building 301B, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA I. Krams : M. J. Rantala Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland