The kinematics of locomotion was investigated in the aquatic larvae of Dixella aestivalis and Hydrobius fuscipes with the aid of high-speed video recordings. Both insects are able to skate on the surface of the water using the dorso-apical tracheal gill as an adhesive organ or 'foot'. Progress relies on the variable adhesion of the foot between 'slide' and 'hold' periods of the locomotory cycle...

It has long been assumed that the resistant eggs of many zooplankton are able to survive passage through the gut of migratory waterbirds, thus facilitating their dispersal between isolated aquatic habitats. We present the first evidence that such passive internal transport within birds may be relevant for insect populations. In three out of six faecal samples from black-tailed Godwits on autumn...

We identified a new species, Nanocladius (Plecopteracoluthus) shigaensis, from Shiga and Gifu Prefectures, Japan, whose larvae are phoretic on nymphs of Plecoptera. Although this new species is morphologically similar to Nanocladius (Plecopteracoluthus) asiaticus Hayashi (1998), which is phoretic on Megaloptera larvae, it differs from N. (P.) asiaticus: the color of the larval head capsule is l...

Chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae; non-biting midges) are known to be carriers of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, responsible for the fatal cholera disease in humans. It was recently discovered that chironomid females choose their oviposition site by a visual cue. In this study, we test the hypothesis that this visual cue is the linear polarization of light reflected from the water surface. We ...

Various sampling techniques were employed to study the population dynamics and identify the origin of annually re-occurring infestations of Paratanytarsus grimmii in granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorbers. Larvae overwintered in all adsorbers studied and are the main source of endemic persistent infestations. Significant differences in larval densities were identified between the down-flow c...

We compare high-resolution pollen and chironomid records from the last 15,000 yr in Laguna Facil, southern Chile. Major vegetation and chironomid changes are recorded between ca 14,900 and 14,700 cal. yr BP. During the Lateglacial, changes in the chironomid stratigraphy lag behind changes in the pollen stratigraphy suggesting that the chironomids are responding to changes in the tree canopy or ...

The present study analysed the distribution of subfossil chironomid larval head caspules in a suite of surface sediment samples from a large deep subtropical lake, i.e. Lugu lake, located in Southwest China. In order to identify the relationships between environmental variables and the chironomid assemblages ordination methods were used. A total of 41 chironomid taxa were found across the 46 sa...