Monday, November 17, 2008

When a critter eats a critter


Thus far in all my searching I have found one larvae which may be Neophylidorea (the genus I am revising). When I dissected this larvae today to expose the mouthparts I found this! (right) within the digestive tract of the unknown limnophilini species. It's to be expected as these are likely predaceous. Any ideas on the identity of the prey? The predator was found living in cold water muck with emergent vegetation.



My other specimen clearing excitement today was attempting to understand how the male and female are attached in copula. I haven't fully cleared the pair, but I have been able to see some of the inter-workings (below) and the pair has stayed connected.

1 comment:

  1. The larvae is a Ceratopogonidae (biting midges). There were many more of them (~5) in only a small area near the head. I will have to be careful which tissue I choose for sequencing!

    ReplyDelete