Belgin Çamur-Elipek

First observations in Turkish Thrace on water mite larvae parasitism of Ranatra linearis by Hydrachna gallica (Acari: Hydrachnidia)

Many aquatic insect species, including aquatic Hemiptera, are parasitized by water mite larvae. Although this situation may cause damaging impacts to the hosts, the mites can disperse and colonize new localities in this way. Little is known about the frequency of water mite ectoparasitism amongst the aquatic Hemiptera in Turkey. In this study, larval water mite parasitism on aquatic Hemiptera, which have been collected from different localities in Turkish Thrace, was evaluated. It was found that only nine individuals, belonging two different species in a total of 367 hemipteran specimens, were parasitized by larval water mites. Furthermore, variations in sizes and shapes of the mites on the waterscorpion Ranatra linearis Linne, 1758 and Nepa cinerea Linne, 1758 were determined. These are the first records for larval mite parasitism on R. linearis and N. cinerea in Turkish Thrace.

Observations with a different approach to morphological colour variation in an isopod population (Crustacea: Isopoda)

Morphological colour variation in Idotea baltica basteri Audouin, 1827 (Isopoda: Crustacea) is reported for the first time on populations from a brackish water lake (Kucukcekmece Lagoon) in Turkey. According to pigmentation characteristics, the isopods were described and sorted to ten different colour morphs which are named as maculata, maculata-lineata, uniformis, uniformis-lineata, immaculatum, immaculatum-lineata, nigrum, nigrum-lineata, albafusca, and albafusca-fasciatum. The similarity of the morphs was compared by defining digit codes to some of the visual pigmentation characteristics and calculating the Bray-Curtis similarity index of the colour morphs. The albafusca and albafusca-fasciatum forms were found to be the most similar to each other (similarity 96%), whereas immaculatum forms were considered the most different from maculata-lineata (similarity 50%). The morphs named maculata and maculata-lineata, having the highest abundance with 70%, belong to the most successful forms which may achieve crypsis by background matching in their living habitat in Kucukcekmece Lagoon which has sandy and rocky bottom surface area.