First detailed records of water mite larvae (Hydrachnidia: Hydrovolzidae, Hydryphantidae) parasitizing empidid flies (Diptera: Empididae: Clinocerinae).

Iwona Słowińska,Grzegorz Michoński,Robert Stryjecki,Andrzej Zawal

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.06.001

Abstract

Five species of the subfamily Clinocerinae from the Tatra Mountains (S Poland) were observed to be parasitized by larval water mites. Two of them: Kowarzia plectrum Mik, 1880 and Clinocera storchi Mik, 1880 are recorded from this massif for the first time. In addition, C. storchi, is new for Polish fauna. The most infected species was Clinocera appendiculata Zetterstedt, 1838, following by Wiedemannia mikiana (Bezzi, 1899), Clinocera storchi Mik, 1880, Kowarzia plectrum Mik, 1880 and Wiedemannia jazdzewski Niesiołowski, 1987. The highest number of hosts occurred in the case of Panisopsis curvifrons (Walter, 1907) with five host species, following by both Hydrovolzia placophora (Monti, 1905) and Protzia eximia (Protz, 1896) with one species each. In the case of Clinocera appendiculata more parasites were recorded on males than on females and in C. storchi more parasites were recorded on females. The abdomen of the hosts was the most often chosen by water mites larvae.

Highlights

The subfamily Clinocerinae (Diptera: Empididae) is a large group of predacious, long-legged flies that exist in lotic freshwater habitats
Clinocera appendiculata and Wiedemannia mikiana were infested by 2 species of water mite, and Clinocera storchi, Kowarzia plectrum and Wiedemannia
The most infected clinocerids belongs to the most abundant species (Clinocera appendiculata, C. storchi, Wiedemannia mikiana) which is common for other water mite species, and intensity of infestation is rather low, as usual in dipterans and in contrast with odonates, beetles and bugs

Summary

Introduction

The subfamily Clinocerinae (Diptera: Empididae) is a large group of predacious, long-legged flies that exist in lotic freshwater habitats. It contains 18 genera and well over 360 described species worldwide (Yang et al, 2007; Sinclair and Shamshev, 2014; Palaczyk et al, 2015). Adults are small to medium flies, usually greyish or sometimes brownish in colour, with generally narrow wings. As it is known, the immature stages of Clinocerinae are aquatic. Sometimes larvae invade the pupal cocoons and attack the pupae (Zwick et al, 2011)

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