Early stadium damselfly larvae (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) as prey of an aquatic plant, Utricularia australis

Abstract

Two third stadium larvae of Coenagrionidae (probably Coenagrion puella or Ischnura elegans) were recorded in the bladders of U. australis sampled from a garden pond in Karlsruhe, Germany, in June 2010. These are the first records of odonate larvae as prey of carnivorous aquatic macrophytes.

Hiding among traps? Mortality of early instar odonate larvae in the presence of bladderwort plants

“…This is under the assumption that the differences in survival between the Utricularia-and the Myriophyllum-treatments were caused by bladderwort. This is supported by the fact that we found larvae in the bladders at the end of the experiments and by the record of larvae in bladders in the field (Martens & Grabow, 2011).…”

“…Early instar larvae of both Coenagrionidae and Aeshnidae have been recorded in bladders of U. australis (Herzog & Martens, 2013;Martens & Grabow, 2011). In our study, we add U. vulgaris to the (short) list of plants preying on early instar odonate larvae.…”

“…Predation pressure decreases with increasing weed density (Thompson, 1987) and is also influenced by the plant growth forms (Dionne, Butler, & Folt, 1990;Dionne & Folt, 1991). However, if it is generally assumed that aquatic plants may reduce the predation risk of odonate larvae (Corbet, 1999, p. 164), there may be exceptions if the plant itself is the predator (Martens & Grabow, 2011).…”

“…The prey organisms all have a size comparable to early instar odonate larvae. But, only recently, early instar larvae of Coenagrionidae and Aeshnidae have been discovered in capture bladders of Utricularia australis R. Brown in a garden pond (Herzog & Martens, 2013;Martens & Grabow, 2011).…”

Fastest predators in the plant kingdom: functional morphology and biomechanics of suction traps found in the largest genus of carnivorous plants

“…2009 ; Kurbatova and Yershov 2009 ). Reports of large Odonata larvae ( Martens and Grabow 2011 ), salamanders ( Simms 1884 ) or even young fish ( Moseley 1884 ; Gudger 1947 ) (Fig. 3 B) as prey can most certainly be considered as exceptions.…”