Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Zimmermann M 1984 - Mesovelia Furcata

    Uploaded by

    oséias martins magalhães
    7 views10 pages

    Original Title

    Zimmermann M 1984 _Mesovelia furcata

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    7 views10 pages

    Zimmermann M 1984 - Mesovelia Furcata

    Uploaded by

    oséias martins magalhães

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 10
    [Rows | wnt | P| errs | ee tebe | Population Structure, Life Cycle and Habitat of the Pondweed Bug Mesovelia furcata (Hemiptera, Mesoveliidae) * ' by ‘Manfred ZIMMERMANN ** Wink 4 Figures and 4 Tables ABSTRACT Population structure and life ele of the pondweed bug Mesovelia furcata (Hemip tera, Mesoveliidae) were investigated on three ponds in the region of Berne (Switzerland), Laboratory reared specimens supported the observations made in the field Fisid samples (about 3000 nymphs), mass cultures of the different instars and, above all, individual rearings from hatching, revealed that M, furcata (both wingless and winged specimens) has but four nymphal stages, a number unusual for semiaquatic Hemiptera (Gerzomorpha). Mf oppo generacion and by mid-Au joltine, Total population density inereased from first to third it amounted {0 some 600 bugs per sam on one of the study 'M. furcata hibernate as eggs in embryonic diapause, the germ band, immersed in the yolk, having assumed an elongated S-shape. Females of the first generation taken to the laboratory (24° C, 18L:6D) laid without exception, nondiapause eggs. Those of the second generation already laid diapause eggs (about 50%), but the proportion of nondiapause ‘eggs was much higher than in females of the third generation, which laid mainly diapausing ‘eggs. Eggs hibernate in stems of rooted plants of the emergent zone, both above and below the water surface, end also, but less frequently, in rotting plants at the bottom of ponds. {A first account of an hymenopteran egg parasitold (Anagrus incarnatus subfuscus Hal., Mymaridae) of M. furcatais given. + Part of the author's thesis. 1 Zoologishes Insitur der Universitit, Abselung fir Wirbellose, Baltzersrasse 3, CH.3012 Bera, Schwe'2 ""Ponerpresented atthe Annual Meeting of the Swiss Zoclogeal Society at Fribourg, March 1984. 1018 LMANFRED ZIMMERMANN M, furcata is strongly associated with plants of the water lily communities (ymphaeion). In most habitats Nymphaea albe, Nuphar tuiee, ot Potamogeion natare ‘were present. INTRODUCTION small family Mesoveliidae (water treaders), with about 35 known species in 10 sgenere, has a world-wide distribution (ANDERSEN & POLHEMUS 1980, MaLiPaTiL & Mow, ‘Terri 1983). Virtually all of the palaearctic species belong to the cosmopolitan gens ‘Mesovelia the only exception being Speovelia maritima, an endemic on Japan and Ryukys Islands, Typical habitats of most species are still waters with abundant swimming vegeta tion. A few species, however, prefer more hidden habitats eg. moss covered rocks, gravel and stones along river-banks, and M, amoena=M. douglasensis) on Hawait is even kaown to be cavernicolous (HUNGERFORD 1917, SCHUMACHER 1919, POISSON 1933, 1957, Gaone & Howarr 1975, PoLHEMUS & CHAPMAN 1979, ANDERSEN & PoLHEMUS 1980, ANDES. SEN 1982, a0), ‘Three European species are known: M. furcata, M. thermalis and M. vittgers. Adu Of these three species are morphologically easily discernible (HORVATH. 19] 1955, Porsson 1957, Niese« 1982). The ouly place where MM. thermalls has Deen found so far, isthe thermal lake of Pispxtareé near Oradea in Rumania ( 9 ANDERSEN & POLHEMUS 1980). Within Europe M, vittigera (=M, orientalis) is confined to the Mediterranean countries (HORVATH 1929, Po'sson 1933, STICHE: 1953, BAENA RUIZ 1982, NiEseR 1982). Its whole distribution however extends from Afvica to the ‘Samoa Islands (ANDERSEN & POLMEMUS 1980), In Central Europe only ML furcata is ound. Records from most European countries exist and the range of distribution covers the greater part of the Palaearctic (HORVATH 1929, STICHEL 1955, ANDERSEN & POLIIE. ‘Mus 1980). The presence of MA. furcata in our country, oddly enough, was discovered only Guite recently by DetHIER & MarTHEY (1977). They mention four localities in the region of Lausanne and lake Neuchatel, and a further population was found in the Canion of Fri- bourg by ZURWERRA (1978). Despite of its wide occurrence, the local distribution of M. Surcata is not mach known, probably because ofits small size, cryptic colour and inconspi- ‘cuous behaviour (SCHUMACHER 1919, JORDAN 1931, 1952, POISSON 1933, WESENBERC- Lun 1943). Starting with BUTLER (1893), quite a few papers on the biology of M. fureata were ublished (LUNDBLAD 1915, 1916, 1916a, JANSSON 1916, MUELLER 1919, SCHUMACHER 1919, Tevkovsky 1920, BUTLER 1923, EKBLOM 1930, JORDAN 1931, 1952, SOUTHWOOD & LesTON 1959, CopBEN 1965, 1968, DETHIER & MATTHEY 1977, ANDERSEN 1982, NIESER 1982), This led Poissow, already in 1933, to the conclusion that the biology of M. furcata ‘was well known. This statement must, however, be denounced as an exaggeration, There is still no general agreement about voltiism, phenology and hibernating stage of M. fur- cata (NESER 1982), The pondweed bug is described to be either, univoltine (EKBLOM 1930, JoRDAN 1931, 1952, DETHIER & MarTHey 1977, TAMANIN! 1979, a0.) or at most bivoltine (Tevrovsky 1920, SouTHWooD & LESTON 1959, GALAREATH 1975). It is assumed that ‘overwintering takes place within the egg in an embryonic diapause (EKBLOM 1930, SOUTH: wWooD & LESTON 1959, ANDERSEN 1982) or else in quiescence (COBBEN 1968). Other authors state that adults (JORDAN 1931, 1952, TaMANINI 1979) or only mated females hibernate (TevRovsky 1920). » STICHEL t f t t { ener arrears tener 1A FURCATA 1019 BIOLOGY OF MESOVELIA FURCA “The aim of the present study is to answer the following questions: tions ace produced per year by M. furcata? — How many generations are produced p J = Whit is the hibematng tage of the posdweed bus? Tis the overwintering stage in diapause or only quiescent? ; Z What about the regional distribution of this water surface dweller? MATERIALS AND METHODS tdatapresened inthis preliminary study ofthe iooay of M furcoa were cols ftom March 1983 0 April 1984. They compris: field observations well su ratory reasngs . ‘STUDY SITES: Population suture and ieee of M. feta wee studied on thee aisteent ponds Two of ther (Aan B of this pape ae siaated within the nature reserve ‘Sica (7) near Laupen (Be), the thi (©) a ney dager pond in onto sari Sorte! tite In Berne In 1978 ZURWERKA discovered M. furan the Aurid oe yw found te populations on sere ponds f Be quite dense ates se uipdan and notes onthe development of te nature reserve ae give Bp ZURWERRA ihotey us samples from pond A (pond 4 of ZuRWeRRA) were taken fom the southern cere fete te vegetation consisted of arch growth of emergent plants, such a8 phe se tes Hon paloma platogo aqua, Corer sp. Mentha aguatica ey and 8 three to five meters wide outing broad leaved pondwveed (Potarogeton nator) saree d'b (of Zunwenna) no such floating zone existed. There were only small mats Sr.Bttng alga This pond was open to the sun, whereas pond A was quit shady du to surrounding buses, Pond C (in front of our Intute) was constructed in 1982, 67 cect other the following plants were introduced inthe autunn ofthe same year: wae Tne Romptoe sp Nuphar he), P natans bused (Sperganim sp), edmace Pha BI ter Blanain (A. plmtagoaguatcn, sees (Core sp) ra bras (Se Tray Mppuns vgs rushes (umes 7), sd ylow (i poeaori inertia gets pictur ofthe eur of oecuens ante pater of Gp of M. pocatiout region, ary ponds between Solothurn and Fribourg were serene a reer 08 One pts ier ses des, 25 whe wacpal submerged and swimming plants were recorded. inspection, and ts were brought to the laboratory in a cooling box. For inspection, at ar Oe evaon 10% ey were anaesthetized with CO, oie fortnight, and Q (the two other populations were monito- Fe et m9 nee i opt eae 43) in the centre of the floating zone and 4) at the aoe of emer eeaton nah 2 Zea Jl ad fet the end of ARS sping effort Was nat ee made oct about fy id ae sein the above mesioned way. An ate tho oy standardized inh aro pee Was ig enough 0 be preset. Stagespecie duals ache The one and numbers entering the ifeent tags were compute eee ed of nani & NAKASL extended by MANLY (1976). Weare 1020 MANPRED ZIMMERMANN tory, and inspected for hibernating eggs of M. furcata. _— or population study of Gerris lacustris (ZIMMERMANN Festina att cy em ets ethanol, and the newly mouited specimens were transferred, using a small fev te a other box in order to keep the different stages separated. Ir dividuals aid ereatee snes 3m), placed on an earthed metal plate to prevent electrostatic chargi si were kepi for variable time periods in a fridge (T ©. ing. Diapausing eggs length of hin bio (um Wgme [ES 8 Foo. 1 ‘Length of hind tibia in relation to body length from enth from fs instar ays (Li ‘The sexes are eiceribe from the third star onthe ora "ite Bhat bi ston seg, body length a given by Jonoav (932) ‘4 our measurements taken Tom a male lst instar nymph Sepsed by ANDERSEN (1982) | t i j 5 } [BIOLOGY OF MESOVELIA FURCATA 1021 RESULTS. [NUMBER OF NYMPHAL INSTARS. ‘The usual number of nymphal instars in semiaquatle bugs (Gerromorpha) is five (GcHOUTEDEN 1921, BERTRAND 1954, PUISUN 1957, TAMANIM 1979, ANDERSEN 1962 1.0). A few species have reduced this number to four, eg. Mesovelia cryptophila (HOFF. Maat 1932), Rhagovelia obesa (CHENG & FERNANDO 1970) ard several members of the ‘genus Microvelia (FRICK 1949, Dox 1967, ANDERSEN 1982). 1M, furcata has been considered to belong to the great majority with five preimaginal instars (TeYROVSKY 1920, SCHOUTEDEN 1921, EKBLOM 1930, JORDAN 1931, 1936, ANDER- SEN 1982 2.0). JORDAN (1931) gives a description of the five stages, which, according to him, differ in body length. Our bicmetsical analysis of field samples (more than 300 instars measured out of 3000 nymphs sampled), mass laboratory cultures (more than 150 adults Obtained), and above all direct counting of moults in individual rearings from hatching to adulthood (20 successful cases out of 221 attempts), conclusively demonstrate the existence Of only four preimaginal instars in M. furcaia, This holds both for wingless and winged specimens. Fig. 1 shows a clear difference with no overlap between the length of hind tibiae (of the nymphal stages, but atthe same time the non-suitabilty of body length as a criterion “or separating the stages. Other measures too, eg. the head width, and morphological fea~ tures, such as chaetotaxy and other structures of the body segments, characterize the four instars, A detailed description of the nymphs will be published elsewhere (ZIMMERMANN in prep). a MUTT IT URED FORO A = S33 lM ta ia, 2, Population structure of M. furcata on the three ponds under study. ‘sample size; LULA the four nymphal stages, ada: adult “The exact numbers, of the different instars sampled, are given in Tablet 1022 MANFRED ZIMMERMANN POPULATION STRUCTURE AND LIFE CYCLE Results of our observations are summarized in Table 1 and Fig. 2. Specimens of M. farcata were found on pond A. from the beginning of May to mid-October. In March and ‘April, when adults of Microvelia reticulata and Gerris argentatus were already abundant fon the water, not a single nymph or adult of M. furcata was seen, The first individuals belonging to this species caught in May were, without exception, first instar nymphs. At the same time, the Fist mraphs of G. argentatus made their appearance. During May, the number of first instar nymphs of M. furcata quickly diminished and gradually the higher instars appeared, Adults of this First generation were list observed by mid-June and proved to be abundant for only about a fortnight. They readily reproduced by implanting their ges into stems and leaves of floating and of emergent water plants. Specimens of P natans Tae Population structure on pond A a: numberof individuals ofthe respective instars. “The horizontal Knes separate the three generations. Test on even sex ratio: fo sign: not significant; “1%

    You might also like