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Survival, development and predatory effects of mosquito larvae in Venezuelan phytotelmata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

L. P. Lounibos ,
J. H. Frank ,
C. E. Machado-Allison ,
P. Ocanto  and
J. C. Navarro
L. P. Lounibos
Affiliation:
Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th St SE, Vero Beach, Florida 32962, USA
J. H. Frank
Affiliation:
Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th St SE, Vero Beach, Florida 32962, USA
C. E. Machado-Allison
Affiliation:
Instituto de Zoologia Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 47058, Caracas 1041, Venezuela
P. Ocanto
Affiliation:
Instituto de Zoologia Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 47058, Caracas 1041, Venezuela
J. C. Navarro
Affiliation:
Instituto de Zoologia Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 47058, Caracas 1041, Venezuela
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Abstract

To assess the influence of microhabitat and season on predator growth and survival and prey community structure, first instars of native Toxorhynchites haemorrhoidalis, a predatory mosquito, were released into Heliconia bracts, bamboo internodes, and the axils of two species of Aechmea bromeliads during wet and dry seasons in a lowland rain forest in eastern Venezuela. Experimental and control microhabitats were compared by complete censusing of macroscopic invertebrates 10 and 20 days after releases.

Survival of T. haemorrhoidalis differed significantly among habitats and was reduced by desiccation in dry-season bamboos and in Aechmea nudicaulis and by the presence of a predatory damselfly (Odonata: Zygoptera) in bromeliads. Developmental rate differed among habitats in the wet but not in the dry season; rapid wet-season maturation was associated with increased prey abundance in Heliconia.

Larvae of T. haemorrhoidalis consumed particular taxa and size categories of dipterous prey. Predation significantly reduced the abundance and skewed size-class distributions of Culicidae, Ceratopogonidae, Psychodidae, and pooled samples of Thaumaleidae plus Chironomidae. In bamboos, instar distributions of other mosquitoes were skewed in the presence of T. haemorrhoidalis even though a significant reduction in mosquito abundance was not detected. A decrease in species richness of aquatic Diptera was associated with intense predation by Toxorhynchites in Heliconia and A. nudicaulis.

Toxorhynchites theobaldi was recognized as the naturally occurring predator in local bamboos, and released larvae caused significant reductions in abundance or size-class frequency shifts among three families of Diptera. Niche segregation between these sympatric Toxorhynchites is maintained by oviposition preferences: the larger species, T. theobaldi, oviposits in bamboos and the smaller T. haemorrhoidalis occurs in plant bracts and axils.

Keywords

AechmeaBambusadevelopmentHeliconiamosquitophytotelmatapredationseasonalitysurvivalToxorhynchitesVenezuela
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , August 1987 , pp. 221 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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