SUSCEPTIBILITY TO PARASITISM - EXPERIMENTS WITH THE DAMSELFLY ENALLAGMA-EBRIUM (ODONATA, COENAGRIONIDAE) AND LARVAL WATER MITES, ARRENURUS SPP (ACARI, ARRENURIDAE)

Larval damselflies actively defended against colonization by larval water mites. Developmental stage of damselflies was related to their likelihood of being colonized. Because larval mites have a phoretic stage on damselflies, it is also possible to measure mass and condition of hosts before onset of natural parasitism. Although mass and condition of male damselflies at emergence was unrelated to mite numbers, smaller and lighter females carried more mites into adulthood in 1 of 2 samples. Differences in mass between female hosts may be both an immediate cause and an eventual consequence of different levels of parasitism. -from Authors