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Abstract
According to focal animal sampling, the genus-specific behaviour of Stenus beetles (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) can be presented in the form of a comprehensive ethogram including 73 distinct behavioural patterns. Most observed behavioural patterns can be assigned to five functional systems: ‘feeding’, ‘reproduction’, ‘grooming’, ‘resting’ and ‘protection’. In addition to grooming behaviour, searching behaviour takes a large amount of time (50–90% of the total observation time), which is indicative of the broad prey spectrum of Stenus species. The biological significance of selected behavioural aspects concerning ‘searching for prey’, ‘prey capture’, ‘mating’, ‘self-grooming’ and ‘locomotion on the water surface’ is addressed in the discussion.
