There is little literature about the diet of Ochthebius beetles and some suggestions that they may be predatory. They are extremely abundant in hypersaline systems, and we need to understand their interactions with brine shrimps Artemia. Has anyone found evidence that their larvae can feed on Artemia cysts or other resting eggs of crustaceans, as has been described for Anacaena larvae (Dimentman & Spira 1982 Hydrobiologia)?
Hi there, I checked with Prof. Patrick Sorgeloos and he sends this response:
I checked your request with Prof. Patrick De Clercq (who is very much involved in bio-control with insects, and using Artemia cysts as feed in large scale production). Here is his answer: “… as larvae of these beetles are predators and given brine shrimp, or at least their cysts were found suitable food for a variety of predators, including certain types of beetles, I should not be surprised. However, I have not seen field records of such predation on Artemia by this Ochthebius beetles. One possibility would be to study this using molecular gut content analysis of the "field" collected larvae ...”
Good luck and best wishes for the season, Cornelia E Nauen
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