Dispersal behaviour is an important aspect of the life-history of animals. However, the genetic architecture of dispersal-related traits is often obscure or unknown, even in well studied species. Tribolium castaneum is a globally significant post-harvest pest and established model organism, yet studies of its dispersal have shown ambiguous results and the genetic basis of this behaviour remains unresolved. We combine experimental evolution and agent-based modelling to investigate the number of loci underlying dispersal in T. castaneum, and whether the trait is sex-linked. Our findings demonstrate rapid evolution of dispersal behaviour under selection. We find no evidence of sex-biases in the dispersal behaviour of the offspring of crosses, supporting an autosomal genetic basis of the trait. Moreover, simulated data approximates experimental data under simulated scenarios where the dispersal trait is controlled by one or few loci, but not many loci. Levels of dispersal in experimentally inbred lines, compared with simulations, indicate that a single locus model is not well supported. Taken together, these lines of evidence support an oligogenic architecture underlying dispersal in Tribolium castaneum. These results have implications for applied pest management and for our understanding of the evolution of dispersal in the coleoptera, the world’s most species-rich order.

分散行为是动物生活史的一个重要方面。然而，即使在经过充分研究的物种中，与传播相关的性状的遗传结构也常常是模糊或未知的。赤拟谷盗是一种全球重要的收获后害虫，也是已建立的模式生物，但对其传播的研究显示出不明确的结果，而且这种行为的遗传基础仍未解决。我们将实验进化和基于主体的建模相结合，研究了赤霉中传播的基因座数量，以及该性状是否与性别相关。我们的研究结果证明了选择下分散行为的快速演变。我们没有发现杂交后代的传播行为存在性别偏见的证据，这支持了该性状的常染色体遗传基础。此外，模拟数据近似于模拟场景下的实验数据，其中扩散性状由一个或几个基因座控制，但不是多个基因座。与模拟相比，实验自交系中的扩散水平表明单基因座模型没有得到很好的支持。总而言之，这些证据支持赤拟谷盗传播的寡基因结构。这些结果对于应用害虫管理以及我​​们了解世界上物种最丰富的鞘翅目昆虫的传播进化具有重要意义。