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Halocladius variabilis (Diptera: Chironomidae): a marine insect symbiotic with seaweeds from the White Sea, Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2009

Elena R. Tarakhovskaya  and
David J. Garbary
Elena R. Tarakhovskaya
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, St Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, St Petersburg 199034, Russia
David J. Garbary*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, B2G 2W5
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: D.J. Garbary, Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, B2G 2W5 email: dgarbary@gmail.com
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Abstract

The commensal (and possibly mutualistic) symbiosis between the marine chironomid, Halocladius variabilis, and brown algal epiphytes of Fucus vesiculosus and Ascophyllum nodosum is described for the first time from Europe, based on field studies from the White Sea, Russia. While the primary host, Elachista fucicola, and the secondary host, A. nodosum, are the same as in eastern Canada where the symbiosis was first described, White Sea populations have a wider range of primary hosts that include Pylaiella littoralis and Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus. About 64% of E. fucicola thalli on A. nodosum in the low intertidal zone were colonized. Significantly lower frequencies were found on E. fucicola when the latter was epiphytic on F. vesiculosus at the same tidal height or on either secondary host when they were in the subtidal zone. For a given tidal height, or secondary host, frequency of H. variabilis was reduced on P. littoralis and further reduced on D. foeniculaceus. We suggest that subtidal populations are colonized by dispersal of larvae from the intertidal zone on to suitable substrata, and that there is limited potential for these individuals to reach the intertidal zone as adults for reproduction.

Keywords

ChironomidaeElachistaHalocladiusmarine insectsWhite Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 7 , November 2009 , pp. 1381 - 1385
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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