Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snail<i>Cepaea nemoralis</i>

Understanding the maintenance of among-individual behavioral variation in populations and predicting its consequences are key challenges ecology. Studying association between repeatable behaviors other traits under selection may shed light on underlying selective pressures. We used model snail Cepaea nemoralis to examine whether individual behavior is associated with shell morph, a trait that has been extensively studied context thermal tolerance predator avoidance, which known be strict genetic control this species. quantified proxies boldness exploration snails three morphs coming from two habitats different contexts. show both were at level (within-state Rboldness = 0.22 [95% credible interval: 0.15; 0.29]; Rexploration 0.20 [0.15; 0.25]). Behavior was darker morph (five-banded) being consistently shyer slower explore. There no evidence environment origin influenced behavior. Snails became faster when test temperature increased; we found differed their response. Boldness correlated among individuals, forming syndrome (r 0.28 [0.10; 0.46]). The link find compatible visual by avian predators, assuming positive morphological defense (phenotypic compensation hypothesis). fact morph-behaviors associations consistent across environments, despite hint possible origin. Finally, discuss how our findings combined decades evolutionary research make C. very valuable study evolution response environmental changes.