Predation of the beetle Rhantus sikkimensis (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) on the larvae of Chironomus Meigen (Diptera: Chironomidae) of the Darjeeling Himalayas of India

The dytiscid beetle Rhantus sikkimensis, Regimbart, 1899 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), a member of the freshwater insect communities of the Darjeeling Himalayas, were noted to predate on the coexisting larvae of Chironomus sp. Meigen. Evaluation of predation by R. sikkimensis on Chironomus sp. larvae, in the laboratory, revealed that a single adult morph of R. sikkimensis could kill and consume on an average 10–90 and 10–78 numbers of small and large Chironomus sp. larvae, respectively, per day, depending on the prey density. The attack rate ranged between 520 and 537, and the handling time ranged between 4.3 and 8.6 depending on the size of the preys. The predation varied with respect to predator density also, with a maximum of 151 larvae killed by three predators per day. Two indices of predation, ingestion rate (IR) ranging between 13.33 and 74.15 larvae/day/predator and clearance rate (CR) ranging between 19.67 and 39.99 L prey/day/predator, varied with the prey size and predator density, significantly, when the predation was observed for 9 consecutive days, at two predator densities. It was also noted that R. sikkimensis predated on an average 9.8 larvae of Chironomus sp. and 1 larva of Culex sp., when the larvae of both the species are present together as preys, showing a preference for the Chironomus sp. larvae.