Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:21:52.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parasite-mediated reductions in the survival and reproduction of the backswimmer Buenoa scimitra (Hemiptera: Notonectidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Carmine A. Lanciani
Carmine A. Lanciani
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The effect of the parasitic water mite Hydrachna virella on its host Buenoa scimitra was investigated using laboratory experiments. The mite parasitizes all but the first instar of the host. Survival rates were found to be greater among unparasitized than parasitized individuals of these instars. Instantaneous death rates were observed to be linear functions of the number of mites supported/host. The mite's effect on the host's death rate appeared to be directly related to the size of the engorged mite compared to the size of the host; greater relative sizes were associated with greater impacts. Unparasitized females oviposited significantly more eggs than parasitized females, and the instantaneous birth rate of the host was observed to be a non-linear function of mite load.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 85 , Issue 3 , December 1982 , pp. 593 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R. M. (1978). The regulation of host population growth by parasitic species. Parasitology 76, 119–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host–parasite population interactions. I. Regulatory processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 219–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breslow, N. (1970). A generalized Kruskal-Wallis test for comparing K samples subject to unequal patterns of censorship. Biometrika 57, 579–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmondson, W. T. (1968). A graphical model for evaluating the use of the egg ratio for measuring birth and death rates. Oecologia 1, 1–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, D. A. (1970). The larval ecology of two species of Hydrachna (Acari, Hydrachnidae) parasitic upon Corixidae (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). M.S. thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Keyfitz, N. (1968). Introduction to the Mathematics of Population. New York: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Keyfitz, N. (1977). Applied Mathematical Demography. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Keymer, A. E. (1980). The influence of Hymenolepis diminuta on the survival and fecundity of the intermediate host, Tribolium confusum. Parasitology 81, 405–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lancaster, H. O. (1974). An Introduction to Medical Statistics. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Lanciani, C. A. (1970). New species of Eylais (Acari: Eylaidae) parasitic on aquatic Coleoptera. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 89, 169–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanciani, C. A. (1979 a). Water mite-induced mortality in a natural population of the mosquito Anopheles crucians (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 15, 529–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanciani, C. A. (1979 b). The influence of parasitic water mites on the instantaneous death rate of their hosts. Oecologia 44, 60–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lanciani, C. A. (1980). Parasitism of the backswimmer Buenoa scimitra (Hemiptera: Noton-ectidae) by the water mite Hydrachna virella (Acari: Hydrachnellae). Freshwater Biology 10, 527–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanciani, C. A. (1982). Overview of parasitic water mite-induced effects on aquatic insects. In Research Needs for Development of Biological Control of Pests by Mites. University of California, Special Publication (ed. Hoy, M. A.Cunningham, G. L. and Knutson, L.), (in the Press).Google Scholar
Lanciani, C. A. & Boyett, J. M. (1980). Demonstrating parasitic water mite-induced mortality in natural host populations. Parasitology 81, 465–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanciani, C. A. & May, P. G. (1982). Parasite-mediated reductions in the growth of nymphal backswimmers. Parasitology 85, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, N. (1975). Observations on the relationship between Eylais and Hydrachna (Acari: Hydracarina) and Sigara spp. (Insecta: Hemiptera: Corixidae). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 2, 45–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, R. M. & Anderson, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host–parasite population interactions: II. Destabilizing processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 249–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paloheimo, J. E. (1974). Calculation of instantaneous birth rate. Limnology and Oceanography 19, 692–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. P. (1977). Water mite parasitism of water boatmen (Hemiptera: Corixidae). M.S. thesis, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada.Google Scholar
Steel, R. G. D. & Toebie, J. H. (1960). Principles and Procedures of Statistics. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar