scholarly journals Rapid swimming and escape movements in the aquatic larvae and pupae of the phantom midge Chaoborus crystallinus

2014 ◽  
Vol 217 (14) ◽  
pp. 2468-2479 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Burrows ◽  
M. Dorosenko
Keyword(s):  
Phantom Midge

Omnivory of the larval phantom midge (Chaoborus spp.) and its potential significance for freshwater planktonic food webs

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (11) ◽  
pp. 2055-2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne V. Moore ◽  
Norman D. Yan ◽  
Trevor Pawson
Keyword(s):  
Diet Composition ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Potential Significance ◽  
Keratella Cochlearis ◽  
Planktonic Food ◽  
South Central ◽  
Invertebrate Predator ◽  
Asplanchna Priodonta ◽  
Phantom Midge ◽  
Plastic Lake

Developmental and seasonal changes in the preferred prey and the diet composition of the invertebrate predator Chaoborus punctipennis were determined in Plastic Lake, an acidified (pH 5.6) lake in south-central Ontario, Canada. All instars consumed rotifers (mainly Keratella cochlearis, Ploesoma sp., and Asplanchna priodonta), and instars III and IV fed preferentially on crustaceans (mainly bosminids and copepods). Phytoflagellates (Peridinium sp. and Dinobryon sp.), however, numerically dominated the diet of all instars examined (II–IV), and were consumed by instar II larvae in excess of their relative availability. On 40 and 20% of the sampling dates, instars III and IV, respectively, consumed phytoflagellates in accordance with their relative abundance in the lake. Although the contribution of phytoflagellates to the biomass-based diet of C. punctipennis was low, on one occasion phytoflagellates formed almost half of the diet biomass of instar II larvae. A review of the literature shows that in lakes where phytoflagellate densities are high (≥ 100–200/mL), phytoflagellates contribute ≥ 50% of the diet biomass of all instars of Chaoborus spp. These findings indicate that Chaoborus spp. are omnivores that frequently feed on phytoflagellates even when alternative animal prey are abundant. Consumption of phagotrophic phytoflagellates by Chaoborus spp. and other large invertebrate omnivores, such as Mysis spp., Epischura spp., and cyclopoid copepods, may increase the transfer efficiency of organic carbon from the microbial food web to the upper trophic levels in fresh waters. In acidified lakes, consumption of large dinoflagellates by Chaoborus spp. and other invertebrate omnivores may ameliorate the hypothesized bottleneck impeding the flow of carbon between phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Thin Layer Interference may Reduce the Visibility of Transparent Phantom Midge Larvae (Chaoborus trivittatus) to Predators

1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1043-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis A. Giguère ◽  
Robert L. Dunbrack
Keyword(s):  
Body Wall ◽  
Spectral Composition ◽  
Interference Filter ◽  
The Body ◽  
Thin Layers ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Surface Reflection ◽  
Visual Background ◽  
Phantom Midge ◽  
Pelagic Stage

The body wall of transparent aquatic animals is constructed of materials which have a higher refractive index than water. Because of this, light will reflect from their surface, making their body contours visible to predators. Electron micrographs of cuticle from the transparent pelagic stage of the phantom midge Chaoborus trivittatus reveal thin layers less than a wavelength of light thick which could alter the spectral composition of this surface reflection by acting as an interference filter. This hypothesis is supported by measurements of the reflectance of the body surface of C. trivittatus. Reflectance was lower than expected at the wavelengths which maximize contrast in aquatic environments and higher than expected at ambient background wavelengths, suggesting that interference may reduce the visibility of Chaoborus to its predators by improving the spectral matching of its body reflection to the visual background.

scholarly journals The phantom midge menace: Migratory Chaoborus larvae maintain poor ecosystem state in eutrophic inland waters

2018 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
Kam W. Tang ◽  
Sabine Flury ◽  
Dominic Vachon ◽  
César Ordóñez ◽  
Daniel F. McGinnis
Keyword(s):  
Inland Waters ◽  
Ecosystem State ◽  
Phantom Midge

scholarly journals Effects of water browning on freshwater biodiversity: the case of the predatory phantom midge Chaoborus nyblaei

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 813 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Lindholm ◽  
Martin Eie ◽  
Dag Olav Hessen ◽  
Joachim Tørum Johansen ◽  
Kristoffer Weiby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Freshwater Biodiversity ◽  
Phantom Midge
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