Hábitos alimentarios de Sigara lateralis (Heteroptera, Corixidae)

Abstract

Feeding habits of Sigara lateralis (Heteroptera, Corixidae)
Feeding habits of adult Sigara lateralis taken from the Llobregat river Delta (Catalunya, N.E. Spain) have been studied through feeding experiments and behavioral observations in laboratory. During feeding experiments S. lateralis prefers dead aquatic insect larvae and small living Crustacea, but when starved it can also hunt live insect larvae. Extintion ratios of one S. lateralis population kept with algae and another having no food available were similar, on the contrary, two populations fed with live and dead insect larvae, respectively, lived more days. S. lateralis is, thus, mainly a zoophagus species.