Abstract
Sculpin and stonefly predators fed selectively on the larvae of the chironomids Paratendipes over Cricotopus in laboratory stream microcosms. In these experiments, Cricotopus were usually tube-dwelling, whereas Paratendipes were usually free-living. Paratendipes were also bright red, which may have influenced selectivity by visual feeding sculpin, but tactile feeding stoneflies were most likely influenced only by the difference in tube-dwelling behavior of the two prey types. Both chironomids were abundant in the field, but exhibited discrete microhabitat distributions. Field collected sculpin ate mostly Cricotopus, probably because Cricotopus occurred in a more accessible microhabitat.
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Hershey, A.E., Dodson, S.I. Selective predation by a sculpin and a stonefly on two chironomids in laboratory feeding trials. Hydrobiologia 124, 269–273 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00015244
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00015244