Chironomid (Diptera) larvae and hydroptilid (Trichoptera) pupae attached to a macromiid nymph (Anisoptera)

Examination of a Macromia georgina (Sel.) nymph collected from a channelized stream on October 20, 1978 (South Carolina: Horry County, Buck Creek at S.C. Hwy 905) revealed that four mature caddisfly pupae and three chironomid larvae were attached to its dorsum (Fig. I). The caddisflies were determined as Oxyethira azteca (Mosely) (Hydroptilidae) and the midges as Rheotanytarsus exiguus Johannsen. The relationship between the chironomid, hydroptilid, and the odonate was probably phoretic rather than nutritive. This appears to be the first record of Trichoptera pupae in a phoretic relationship with an odonate nymph. A.W. STEFFAN (1967, inS.M. Henry, Ed., Symbiosis,chapter 4: Academic Press, New York – London) mentions no relationship between midges or caddisflies and odonates, although more recently D. ROSENBERG (1972, Quaest. enl. 8: 3-4) did report Paratanytarsus sp, attached to Sympetrum sp., probably S. internum, in Canada.