. Bonner zoologische Beiträge : Herausgeber: Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Biology; Zoology. Enchytraeidae as prey of Dolichopodidae 93. Fig. 3. Argyra auricollis ? with an enchytraeid. The fly is warding off the squirming worm with its left fore leg. Note the soil particles adhering to the worm. Upper Bavaria, Mumauer Moos, 23 July 1968. to keep a squirming worm off its head (Fig. 3). Similar observations by Cregan (1941: 14) on Dolichopus ramifer Loew may be interpreted so. In other cases {Hypophyllus obscurellus) it seemed that the fly tried to press the
. Bonner zoologische Beiträge : Herausgeber: Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Biology; Zoology. Enchytraeidae as prey of Dolichopodidae 93. Fig. 3. Argyra auricollis ? with an enchytraeid. The fly is warding off the squirming worm with its left fore leg. Note the soil particles adhering to the worm. Upper Bavaria, Mumauer Moos, 23 July 1968. to keep a squirming worm off its head (Fig. 3). Similar observations by Cregan (1941: 14) on Dolichopus ramifer Loew may be interpreted so. In other cases {Hypophyllus obscurellus) it seemed that the fly tried to press the worm against the soil with its legs during the struggle after capture. In contrast, Hydrophorus Fallén has been observed holding insect prey with the fore legs (Aldrich 1911: 45, Williams 1939: 307, Peterson 1960: 270), which are used both for predation and, by the male in a pair, for holding the female (Dyte 1988; Lunau, unpublished photo; inferred from sexual dimorphism by Aldrich 1911: 48). Use of the fore legs as predatory legs has also been reported for other hydrophorine genera, viz., Scellus Loew, Hydatostega Philippi, Thinophilus Wahlberg, and Aphrosylus Haliday (Doane 1907, Harmston 1948, Roubaud 1903). Most of the flies met with a worm were females. This conforms to the common experience that female flies are more voracious as predators than males, and can be explained by the need of protein food for production of eggs. However, males did feed on Enchytraeidae too, as observed in Dolichopus nigricornis and D. popularis. While searching for Enchytraeidae, some of the flies met insects which would have been a suitable prey too, but apparently did not take notice of them. It appears that the worms were more attractive. Nevertheless, the published record of Dolichopodidae preying on oligochaete worms is scanty, whereas preying on insects has been recor- ded frequently. Wahlberg (1845, quoted in English by Lundbeck 1912: 15) described predation on Naididae by Dolichopod
Size: 1982px × 1261px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcoll, booksubjectbiology, booksubjectzoology
