Does predator benefits prey? Commensalism between Corynoneura Winnertz (Diptera, Chironomidae) and Corydalus Latreille (Megaloptera, Corydalidae) in Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Commensalism between Corydalus Latreille, 1802 (Megaloptera, Corydalidae) and Corynoneura Winnertz, 1846 (Diptera, Chironomidae, Orthocladiinae) larvae was recorded in Indaiá stream, at 1,380 m a.s.l. (Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, 19º-20ºS, 43º-44ºW) and in the headwaters of São Francisco river, at 1,300-1,700 m a.s.l. (Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, 20º00'-20º30'S, 46º15'-47º00'W), in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Seventy eight Corydalus larvae (range 22-88 mm) were sampled: 61 in the Indaiá stream and 17 in other two streams. Twelve Corydalus larvae (22-79 mm) in the Indaiá stream and three out of 15 larvae in the headwaters of São Francisco river (38-50 mm) had Corynoneura, larvae and pupae on their gills (3rd to 6th) and a few larvae attached to the abdominal segments of larger Corydalus larvae (> 25 mm). Sixty-nine larvae of Corynoneura were found in the regurgitated material from Corydalus. It is remarkable that by attaching to larger body size predators, prey could become free from predator bouts and could also be transported by them.

First record of larvae of Chironomidae (Insecta, Diptera) as prey of Temnocephala sp. (Platyhelminthes, Temnocephalidae), an ectosymbiont on larvae of Corydalidae (Megaloptera)

“…Gut content analyses revealed that the most abundant chironomid taxon was Corynoneura, but larvae of Larsia, Rheotanytarsus and Tanytarsus, were recorded as well. Likewise, Corynoneura was the most abundant and frequent chironomid larvae on megalopteran larvae body, as found by Callisto et al (2006), i.e., Corynoneura is the most available larvae for Temnocephala. It is noteworthy that we found two megalopteran larvae harbored both Corynoneura larvae and temnocephalan worms.…”

“…As for temnocephalan-host associations, interactions between chironomids and their host have been recorded involving a great array of animals (Roque et al 2004;Marques et al 2008), mainly insects, such as megalopteran larvae (Callisto et al 2006).…”

Phoresy and commensalism of Chironomidae larvae (Insecta: Diptera) in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…Two individuals of K. colossica were also collected bearing larvae of both morphospecies of Nanocladius (Fig. 1-C & De La Rosa, 1995;Pennuto et al, 2002;Pennuto, 2003), Asia (Hayashi, 1998) and from the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Amazonas (Roque et al, 2004;Callisto et al, 2006). Corydalus larvae carrying Chironomidae were collected in riffles in a 2 nd order tributary of the Cascatinha River, in Nova Friburgo (RJ), at 1300 m a.s.l.…”

“…(Orthocladiinae) on fishes of the families Astroblepidae and Loricariidae (Freehofer & Neil, 1967;Fittkau, 1974;Mendes et al, , 2007Sydow et al, 2008); Nanocladius (Plecopteracoluthus) sp. on Plecoptera (Dorvillé et al, 2000) and Ephemeroptera (Callisto & Goulart, 2000;Pepinelli et al, 2009); Thienemanniella on Megaloptera (Callisto et al, 2006); Rheotanytarsus on Odonata (Ferreira-Peruquette & Trivinho-Strixino, 2003;Rosa et al, 2009), and Coleoptera (Segura et al, 2007). Roque et al (2004) listed new occurrences of phoretic Chironomidae-larvae living on different aquatic animals, mainly for the state of São Paulo.…”

Biotic interactions enhance survival and fitness in the caddisfly Micropterna sequax (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae)

“…This demonstrates the one-way facilitating direction, termed 'commensalism', that an interspecific interaction can have (Connell, 1983). It has been found that Chironomidae often display commensalistic interactions to increase their feeding opportunity, mobility, protection from disturbance and reduce predation risk (Tokeshi, 1993;Callisto et al, 2006), but this entails interactions with other orders of aquatic invertebrates. Within-class commensalism has not been found or described for many aquatic invertebrates, yet could have a large explanatory value when it comes to niche expansion and range shifts (Bulleri et al, 2016).…”