- University of New Brunswick
- University of Guelph
Summary
Twenty-seven species of water mites of the genus Arrenurus were compared with respect to allocation of reproductive effort. Clutch volume was positively correlated to female volume, female volume was positively correlated with clutch size and with larval volume, while clutch size and larval volume were negatively correlated. In three-space, corresponding to female volume, clutch size and larval volume, species were arranged along two trajectories representing separate reproductive strategies. The strategy characterized by small larvae, large clutches and large females corresponded to species of the subgenus Arrenurus, known to be larval parasites of adult Odonata. Members of three subgenera, known to be larval parasites of adult Diptera, followed the second strategy of small clutch sizes and large larvae. Of nine species of mites tested for intraspecific relationships, only one significant relationship was found, between female volume and clutch size for A. (Megaluracarus) bartonensis.
Methodology
This study was conducted primarily at Lake Opinicon, at the Queen's University Biological Station, located ca. 50 km northeast of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Weekly collections of adult water mites were taken from three sites in Lake Opinicon from April 30th to July 31 1986, with supplemental collections from the region and various other locations in southern Ontario to increase the diversity of species included. Adult Arrenurus spp. were collected live using methods outlined in Barr (1973; pp 2-6) and sorted by sex. Males were preserved in Koenike's fluid (Martin 1977) and identified to species. Live females were placed in individual 19 x 45 mm shell vials filled with lake water and provided with a strip of paper (ca. 8 x 25 mm) as an oviposition substrate (Barr 1973; p. 9).