Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Abstract

The waterbug Sphaerodema urinator which inhibits lakes, ponds, marches and rice fields was found to predate on a wide range of other aquatic organisms like insects and snails. To evaluate the predatory potential of this predator on Fasciola intermediate host Lymnea natalensis snails, laboratory studies involved searching, encounter and consumption, and prey preference were achieved. Obtained results indicated that, the searching time of the predator ranged between 3.4 to 7.8 minutes and handling time ranged between 18.8 to 28.8 minutes, depending on the snail size and the predator vulnerability. The adult predator could kill and consume the small, medium and large sized snails. The number of snail consumed per day differs according to the snail size and prey density. The reference experiments showed that the adult predator prefer the small size of the prey than that of medium or large size. This study suggested that the predator Sphaerodema urinator may be potentially suitable bio-control agent in connection with Fasciola intermediate host.

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