A naiad of Anax junius (Drury), in final instar, preyed upon 47 mature snails, Helisoma trivolvis (Say), during a period of 63 clays. The feeding behavior has potential significance: (1) with respect to biological control of trematode vectoring gastropods; (2) as a mechanism for vectoring trematodes between snails and birds; and (3) in interpreting structural adaptations and perception in immature oclonates

Haman, A. C.

Sievers, D. W.

English

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Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anaxjunius (Drury): (Odonata)

University of Northern Iowa

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of ScienceVolume 79 | Number 3-4 Article 61972Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anaxjunius(Drury): (Odonata)D. W. SieversUniversity of Northern IowaA. C. HamanUniversity of Northern IowaCopyright © Copyright 1972 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uni.edu/piasThis Research is brought to you for free and open access by UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Proceedings of the Iowa Academyof Science by an authorized editor of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu.Recommended CitationSievers, D. W. and Haman, A. C. (1972) "Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anaxjunius (Drury): (Odonata)," Proceedings of the IowaAcademy of Science: Vol. 79: No. 3-4 , Article 6.Available at: http://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol79/iss3/6105 Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anaxjunius (Drury): ( Odonata) D. W. SIEVERS and A. C. HAMANI D. W. SIEVERS and A. C. HAMAN. Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anax junius (Drury): ( Odonata). Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., 79 ( 3-4): 105-106, 1972. SYNOPSIS: A naiad of Anax junius (Drury), in final instar, preyed upon 47 mature snails, Helisoma trivolvis (Say), during a period In rearing the final instar of Anax junius in the laboratory, predation upon 47 mature snails, Helisoma trivolvis, was observed over a period of 63 days. Although Anax has been previously reported (Needham and Hart, 1901) feeding on gastropods, this is the first instance of this snail genus being involved in the predator-prey relationship. Although the mean feeding rate was approximately one snail every 36 hours, feeding was irregular. Occasionally the naiad con-sumed three snails in a 24-hour period. Personal communi-cation with several authorities (Bick, Corbet, Macklin, Mont-gomery) together with the paucity of published information argued for recording this behavior. The biological control of trematode-vectoring snails makes information on predators of vector snails significant (Sohn and Komicker, 1972). Records of predator-prey encounters between snails and dragonflies are very rare (Table 1 & 2). Past investigators have usually identified the predator, and/or the prey, only to genus. TABLE 1. GASTROPOD GENERA PREYED UPON By ANISOPTERA Genus Amnicola Helisomaa Lymnea (?)a Melaniaa Physaa Source Needham and Hart, 1901) new record ) Williams, 1936) Williams, 1936) Needham and Hart, 1901) aKnown to host Schistosoma sp. TABLE 2. ANISOPTERA GENERA REPORTED TO PREY UPON GASTROPODS Genus Anax Aeshnaa Epicordulia Source (Needham and Hart, 1901) ( Pfau, 1967 ) (Needham and Hart, 1901) aPreyecl only on the eggs of snails. The potential importance of predator-prey relationships in regnlating trematode parasites can be illustrated by com-paring the trematodes found in gastropods known to serve as food for anisopterans with trematodes found in anisop-terans (Table 3 & 4). Such comparisons indicate that nearly 1 Department of Biology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. of 63 clays. The feeding behavior has potential significance: ( 1) with respect to biological control of trematode vectoring gastro-pods; ( 2) as a mechanism for vectoring trematodes between snails and birds; and ( 3) in interpreting structural adaptations and perception in immature oclonates. all trematode records taken from dragonflies come from pond-dwelling families and genera. The trematode Prostho-gonimus macrorchis can be vectored to birds by a snail and/ or a naiad or mature dragonfly (Biester and Schwarte, 1948; Becklund, 1964). The primary hosts of the trematode Colly-riclum faba are unknown, but a gastropod-odonate vector is suspected (Riley, 1931). In the last two instances dragon-flies serve as intermediate host vectors of snail parasites and TABLE 3. TREMATODES COMMON TO DRAGONFLIES, SNAILS AND B1RDsa Host Snail Amnicola Helisomab Physa Apatemon gracilis Dragonfly x x Aeshna X Epicordulia Erythemis Gomphus Leucorrhinia Libellula Mesothemis Tetragoneuria Bird Agelaius phoenicus Corvus cornix Gallus gallus Ixoreus naevis Species of Trematode H alipegus Prosthogonimus C ollyriclum occidualis macrorchis faba x x x x ? x x x x ? x x ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? X(Ellis,1963) X x x x x aCompiled from Index-Catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zool-ogy, Parts 11, 12 and Supplement 17. 1969. hH elisoma trivolvis. X Indicates host-parasite relationship - Indicates no reported host-parasite relationship ? Indicates a possible host-parasite relationship thus predation might be ineffective in controlling certain trematodes with an obligatory or facultative mollusk-arthropod relationship. On the other hand, the majority of the genera of snails serving as prey for dragonflies also serve as hosts for trematodes such as Schistosoma. Schistosoma has not been taken from any known dragonfly hosts (Doss and Farr, 1969). Predation in this instance might be helpful in regulating trematode populations of this type. 1Sievers and Haman: Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anaxjunius (Drury): (Odonata)Published by UNI ScholarWorks, 1972106 PROC. low A AcAn. Sc1. 79 ( 1972-1973) Family TABLE 4. ANISOPTERAN GENERA KNOWN TO HOST TREMATODESa Genus Gomphidae Dromogomphus Gomphus Ophiogomphus Aeshnidae Aeshna Anax Libellulidae Celithemis Cordulia Epicordulia Erythemis Leucorrhinia Libellula Mesothemis Pachydiplax Perithemis Plathemis Somatochlora Sympetrum Tetragoneuria aCompiled from Index-Catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zoology, Parts 11 and 12. 1969. Williams ( 1936) reported that Anax strenuus broke up shells of large gastropods during predation while smaller gastropods were swallowed whole. In such instances frag-ments of gastropod shells were found within the alimentary canal of the naiads involved. This appears not to be the case in Anax ;unius. The latter "peels" the snail from its shell, us-ing the labium and mandibles in a manner not clearly under-stood, but leaving the shell intact. In analyzing the predation upon snails by naiads, senses other than sight perception may be involved (Corbet, 1962) . This complicates the visual model often used in explaining predation in immature odonates. If dragonfly naiads feed on snails, they must play some role in controlling snail density. The exact role they play in regulating snail populations has yet to be studied. One can only speculate as to the possible usefulness dragonflies may serve as agents of trematode control. An additional complexity is that the naiad or adult may also act as an intermediate host between snail and bird (or other prey) . Of possible additional significance is the use of snails in behavioral experimentation, particularly in resolving problems of prey location by naiads. Such explorations may also prove useful in indicating some functional significance to the variations observed in the labia of various species of anisopterans. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. H. van der Schalie, University of Michigan, for making deter-minations on Helisoma trivolvis, and Dr. J. C. Downey, Uni-versity of Northern Iowa, for use of reference materials and editing. LITERATURE CITED BECKLUND, W. W. 1964. Revised checklist of internal and external parasites of domestic animals in the United States and Pos-sessions and in Canada. Amer. ]. Vet. Res. 25: 1380-1416. BrnsrnR, H. E., and L. H. ScHWARTE. 1948. Trematodes of poul-try, p. 839-861. In H. E. Biester and L. H. Schwarte, Diseases of poultry. Ia. St. Coll. Press, Ames. CORBET, P. S. 1962. The larval stage: general, p. 47-89. In P. S. Corbet, A biology of dragonflies. Witherby, London. Doss, M. A., and M. M. FARR. 1969. Index-catalogue of medical and veterinary zoology: Part 11 and 12. U.S. Gov't. Print. Office. ELLIS, C. J. 1963. Trematodes of passerine birds from Chickasaw County, Iowa. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., 70:486-492. NEEDHAM, J. G., and C. A. HART. 1901. The dragonflies (Odo-nata) of Illinois: Part 1. Petaluridae, Aeshnidae and Gomphidae. Ill. St. Lab. Natur. Hist. 6: 1-95. PFAU, H-K. 1967. A larva of Aeshna cyanea eats gastropod eggs. Tombo. 10:25. RILEY, W. A. 1931. Collyriclum faba as a parasite of poultry. Poultry Sci. 10:204. SoHN, I. G., and L. S. KoRNICKER. 1972. Predation of schistoso-miasis vector snails by Ostracoda ( Crustacae). Science 175: 1258-1259. WILLIAMS, F. X. 1936. Biological studies in Hawaiian water-loving insects: Part II. Odonata or dragonflies. Hawaiian Ent. Soc., Proc. 9:273-349. 2Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 79 [1972], No. 3, Art. 6http://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol79/iss3/6

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Notes on Snail Feeding Behavior of Anaxjunius (Drury): (Odonata)

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