Download Freshwater Invertebrates Dragonflies – Order Odonata Damselflies

Freshwater Invertebrates
Dragonflies – Order Odonata
Damselflies – Order Odonata
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Libellula lydia
Common Whitetail Skimmer
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wings are marked
with bands or spots
wings held out to
sides
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larval stage has
globular body
larvae mainly found
in standing water
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luresext.ed
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clear wings held together
over adult body at rest
wings often stalked at
base
larvae have long, slender
bodies
three flat, elongate gills
project from the rear of
the abdomen
larvae often found in
streams
True Bugs – Order Hemiptera
Family Corixidae
Familiy Notonectidae
Sigara alternate - Water Boatman (Corixids)
Notonecta undulate –
• hind legs oar-like with
Back Swimmer
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swimming hairs
carry an air bubble below
the water surface for
breathing
dried and sold as bird and
fish food
somewhat tolerant of
pollution and salt
tends to be confused with
Back Swimmer
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luresext.ed
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luresext.ed
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True bugs characterized by:
• basal portion of
forewings hardened
• posterior portion of
forewings membranous
• hind wings membranous
• sucking mouth parts
• strong flies unlike beetles
swims upside down, upper side light colored
hind legs are oar-like and covered with
swimming hairs
breathe by breaking the water surface with
the abdomen tip
common in ponds and other standing water
Beetles – Order Coleoptera
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Enallagma basidens –
Double-striped Bluet
adult with hardened forewings
providing protective cover
for hindwings and abdomen
during flight forewings held at
sides while hindwings power the
flight
strong mandibles for pinching and
then sucking
can fly underwater
larvae worm-like, and for aquatic
beetles, are called Water Tigers
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Freshwater Invertebrates
Midge/Chironomids – Order Diptera
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Chironomidae
midges, (smidges), non-biting gnats
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larval stage = small, slender, slightly curved body (c-shaped)
hardened head capsule
sometimes has a brush-like structure at rear
midge family has 100 genera and 670 species
perhaps most important food item for fish and other aquatic
animals
some species are red due to haemoglobin in blood. These
are known as Blood Worms (Chironomus sp.)
hemoglobin allows larvae to live under anaerobic conditions
bloodworms live in highly polluted, eutrophic waters
have adapted to nearly every aquatic environment (including
electroplating wastes and crude oil)
sometimes larvae are found in a little tube like a sleeping
bag, a mound of silt, or case made of pebbles like a caddisfly
one pair
wings
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Oligochaete Worms:
Other Diptera: True Flies
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arctic.uoguelph.ca
Crane Flies
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look like giant
mosquitoes
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wingspan of
three inches
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legs twice as
long as body
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larvae wormlike 1/2 inch to
three inches
long
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spiracles on the
end which look
like tentacles,
are used to
breathe.
adults occur in large swarms,
usually in the evening, in
sunbeams, mate within swarm
swarms make a humming sound
Horse Flies/Deer Flies
• female adult has
sharp bite
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larvae breathe
through siphon at
posterior end
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small head and 11
to 12 additional
segments
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larvae eat other
larvae,
crustaceans,
worms
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pupae may have
visible legs and
wings
segmented worms
larva
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pupa
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body is segmented
each segment after the
first has bundles of tiny
hairs (chaetae)
Includes earthworms,
redworms, aquatic
oligochaetes
larva
pupae
Crustaceans
Gammarus tigerus
Amphipods: (Scuds/Sideswimmers)
crustaceans that are laterally flattened
• brackish water or fresh
• 1-2 mm long
• white or clear body with many segments
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7 pair of legs
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2 pair of antennae
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head fused to thorax
Characteristics of Crustaceans:
• body is segmented
• exoskeleton is hard or rubbery
• head has two compound eyes, two pairs of
antennae, and three pairs of mouthparts
• abdominal segments have swimmerets (swimming
legs)
• other crustaceans include crabs, crayfish, shrimps
flussnetzwerke.nrw.de
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Amphipoda
Otrocods: Seed Shrimp
• small crustaceans 1 mm long
• bodies flattened
• clam-like shell
• live on upper layer of sediment
• marine, brackish, or fresh
• carnivores, herbivores, scavengers, filter feeders