The Parasitic Ecology of Some Watermites

We know the life histories of a number of watermites (Mitchell 1957, Sparing 1959) but apart from the work of Miinchberg (1935) and Mitchell (1959, 1961) on Arrenurus larvae parasitic on Odonata and that of Davies (1958, 1959), on the larvae of Sperchon probably jasperensis on Simuliidae the literature contains only brief references to the ecology and behaviour of the parasitic larvae. The present paper describes the relation between some mite larvae and their hosts and the seasonal changes that occur in the populations of both. It is the second of three describing a study on watermites in a small stream in Wytham Wood near Oxford. The first (Efford, 1962) discussed the general ecology of the mite Feltria romijnit and the effect of host-specificity on its distribution and that of F. minuta.