The role of front legs of British corixid bugs in feeding and mating

Abstract

IntroductionThe forms of the head and front legs of British corixids have been used by Butler (1923), Southwood and Leston (1959) and by Maean (1965) for species and sex determination, but the functional significance of these differences is largely unknown. Reynolds (1975) has reviewed previous literature on the feeding habits of various Palaearctic species but the morphological causes of these observed differences are largely unknown for most species. A study of the functional morphology of the front legs and of the head in relation to feeding would help to fill these gaps in existing knowledge.This paper falls naturally into three sections. The first reviews the work of previous authors on the feeding habits of corixids and describes the range of feeding habits amongst the commoner British species. The second section describes the adaptations of the front legs of these species to different, types of feeding habit. The third section surveys the modifications of the front tarsus for grasping the female as necessitated by the adaptations of the front legs to different feeding habits.

Effect of water quality on waterbugs (Hemiptera: Gerromorpha & Nepomorpha) in Flanders (Belgium): results from a large-scale field survey

“…Corixids indeed are sensitive to predation by fish species, which may differ between species (Oscarson, 1987). Another possibility is that the amelioration of water quality led to a reduction of important food sources of corixids such as periphyton, chironomids and oligochaetes (Popham et al, 1984), which are almost abundant under high nutrient conditions. The improvement of water quality might thus indirectly have reduced prevalence of these waterbugs.…”

The diversity of feeding habits recorded for water boatmen (Heteroptera: Corixoidea) world-wide with implications for evaluating information on the diet of aquatic insects

“…The palae may also sweep over stones, dead animals etc., and detach material that is sucked into the food canal (Buchanan White, 1873). Corixini may occasionally also catch prey with their palae (Popham et al, 1984).…”

“…1B). Accordingly, they and other species of Cymatiainae are usually considered to be exclusively carnivorous, however observations of them with prey are rare (Bakonyi, 1978;Popham et al, 1984).…”

“…Different feeding behaviours of European species are summarised by Sutton (1951) and Popham et al (1984). Most species throw up the bottom ooze and feed on detritus, animals and algae by alternating movements of their palae (Hungerford, 1919).…”

“…Reilly & McCarthy (1990) analysed the gut contents of C. bonsdorffi i and found mainly Diptera larvae (91.4%, especially Chironomidae) and to a lesser extent cladocerans, copepods and mayfl y larvae. Popham et al (1984) consider C. coleoptrata to be carnivorous based on a visual analysis of its gut contents. Cymatia rogenhoferi is recorded preying on fi sh eggs, and fry of the common carp, Cyprinus carpio, and the silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix by Sokol'skaya & Zhiteneva (1973).…”