Bollettino dell Istituto di Entomologia (Guido Grandi) (2000) 54, 155-163

Romeo Bellini, Fernando Pederzani, Roberto Pilani, Rodolfo Veronesi and Stefano Maini (2000)
Hydroglyphus pusillus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera Dytiscidae): Its role as a mosquito larvae predator in rice fields
Bollettino dell Istituto di Entomologia (Guido Grandi) 54, 155-163
Abstract: Northern Italy rice fields are important breeding sites for several noxious mosquito species: Ochlerotatus caspius (Pallas), Anopheles atroparvus (Van Thiel), An. melanoon (Hackett), An. messae (Falleroni), Culex modestus (Ficalbi), Cx. pipiens (L.).
Mosquito larvae in rice fields support high natural mortality largely due to predatory action. Among predators, several species of Dytiscidae resulted well adapted to rice field habitat of North-eastern Po valley. Hydroglyphus pusillus (Fabricius) is the mst abundant species during the whole season and it was observed actively preying on Oc. caspius larvae. In aquarium experiments we confirmed the predatory ability of this species against third and fourth instar Cx. pipiens larvae.
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Database assignments for author(s): Romeo Bellini, Stefano Maini, Rodolfo Veronesi

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
surveys/distribution/isolation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aedes caspius		Italy
Hydroglyphus pusillus (predator)	Aedes caspius		Italy