Hundreds of Species of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates Live in Illinois In

Illinois A B aquatic sowbug Asellus sp. Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella AAqquuaattiicc mayfly A. adult Hexagenia sp.; B. nymph Isonychia sp. MMaaccrrooiinnvveerrtteebbrraatteess Photographs © Michael R. Jeffords northern clearwater crayfish Orconectes propinquus Photograph © Michael R. Jeffords ruby spot damselfly Hetaerina americana Photograph © Michael R. Jeffords aquatic snail Pleurocera acutum Photograph © Jochen Gerber,The Field Museum of Natural History predaceous diving beetle Dytiscus circumcinctus Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella monkeyface mussel Quadrula metanevra common skimmer dragonfly - nymph Libellula sp. Photograph © Kevin S. Cummings Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella water scavenger beetle Hydrochara sp. Photograph © Steve J.Taylor devil crayfish Cambarus diogenes A B Photograph © ChristopherTaylor dobsonfly Corydalus sp. A. larva; B. adult Photographs © Michael R. Jeffords common darner dragonfly - nymph Aeshna sp. Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella giant water bug Belostoma lutarium Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella aquatic worm Slavina appendiculata Photograph © Mark J. Wetzel water boatman Trichocorixa calva Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella aquatic mite Order Prostigmata Photograph © Michael R. Jeffords backswimmer Notonecta irrorata Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella leech - adult and young Class Hirudinea pygmy backswimmer Neoplea striola mosquito - larva Toxorhynchites sp. fishing spider Dolomedes sp. Photograph © William N. Roston Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella Photograph © Michael R. Jeffords Photograph © Paul P.Tinerella Species List Species are not shown in proportion to actual size. undreds of species of aquatic macroinvertebrates live in Illinois in a Kingdom Animalia Hvariety of habitats. Some of the habitats have flowing water while Phylum Annelida Class Clitellata Family Naididae aquatic worm Slavina appendiculata This poster was made possible by: others contain still water. In order to survive in water, these organisms Class Hirudinea leech must be able to breathe, find food, protect themselves, move and reproduce. Phylum Mollusca Class Gastropoda Family Pleuroceridae aquatic snail Pleurocera acutum Illinois Department of Natural Resources Class Bivalvia Family Unionidae monkeyface mussel Quadrula metanevra Division of Education They meet the challenge by using numerous adaptations. Because they are Phylum Arthropoda Class Arachnida Order Prostigmata Superfamily Hygrobatoidea aquatic mite Order Araneae Family Pisauridae fishing spider Dolomedes sp. sensitive to changes in their environment and are relatively easy to collect Class Malacostraca Order Isopoda Family Asellidae aquatic sowbug Asellus sp. Order Decapoda Family Cambaridae devil crayfish Cambarus diogenes and identify, aquatic macroinvertebrates are often used in biological northern clearwater crayfish Orconectes propinquus mon itoring of streams. They also are encountered when students participate Class Hexapoda Order Ephemeroptera Family Ephemeridae mayfly Hexagenia sp. Family Isonychiidae mayfly Isonychia sp. Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund in aquatic sampling activities. The 22 species shown on this poster were Order Odonata Family Aeshnidae common darner Aeshna sp. Funding for this poster was made possible Family Libellulidae common skimmer Libellula sp. Family Calopterygidae ruby spot damselfly Hetaerina americana in part by contributions to the Illinois Wildlife selected by Dr. Paul Tinerella of the Illinois Natural History Survey to Order Hemiptera Family Corixidae water boatman Trichocorixa calva Preservation Fund. Family Notonectidae backswimmer Notonecta irrorata rep resent typical aquatic macroinvertebrate species of Illinois. Family Pleidae pygmy backswimmer Neoplea striola Family Belostomatidae giant water bug Belostoma lutarium Order Megaloptera Family Corydalidae dobsonfly Corydalus sp. Text: Paul P. Tinerella, Illinois Natural History Survey Order Coleoptera Family Dytiscidae predaceous diving beetle Dytiscus circumcinctus Glossary words are defined on the back of the poster. Family Hydrophilidae water scavenger beetle Hydrochara sp. Order Diptera Family Culicidae mosquito Toxorhynchites sp. Illinois AAqquuaattiicc MMaaccrrooiinnvveerrtteebbrraatteess Living in Water GGlloossssaarryy here are hundreds of aquatic macroinvertebrate species in Illinois. Generally, they can Locomotion – For moving in the water column, swimming is often accomplished with the aid carnivorous feeding on the flesh of other organisms T be grouped into the following categories: sponges; hydrazoans; flatworms; aquatic of paddlelike appendages. The bottom-dwelling macroinvertebrates may crawl or burrow. Some nematodes; horsehair worms; aquatic earthworms; leeches; bryozoans; snails; mussels and burrowing species have legs shaped like shovels. Claws are present on some bottom-dwellers detritivore organism that eats detritus clams; and arthropods. These organisms exhibit a variety of adaptations to help them survive where the current is strong. They must cling tightly to objects on the bottom to keep from in water. Although too numerous to list all of them here, some examples of these adaptations being swept away. Suckers are used by leeches to hold on to the substrate and to move. Other detritus organic matter on the bottom of a body of water macroinvertebrates use the surface tension of the water as a base for them to glide or walk upon. are described below. macroinvertebrate animal that can be seen without magnification and that has no internal skeleton Breathing – All aquatic invertebrates must have oxygen for respiration and remove carbon Life Cycle – Some aquatic macroinvertebrates (aquatic worms, mollusks, most crustaceans) dioxide from their body. Many of them come to the water’s surface to obtain air. They can trap spend their entire life in water. Others use water for a portion of their life cycle (many insects) mandible one of a pair of insect mouthparts located directly behind the it by using body parts (wings, legs, hairs) or gulp it through breathing tubes. Water contains or as a base from which they can go to other moist habitats (crayfish). upper lip dissolved oxygen. Some aquatic macroinvertebrates take advantage of dissolved oxygen with their internal or external gills, by absorption directly through the skin or by using a bubble of Reproduction – Crayfish lay their eggs in water, and the eggs and young develop there. Adults membranous made of a thin tissue air that was trapped at the surface and attached to their body. The bubble can extract oxygen may move to other moist habitats. Most water fleas (crustaceans) reproduce parthenogenically, omnivore organism that obtains and eats both plant and animal materials from the water. eggs develop without being fertilized by a male, hatch internally and are born live. Males are occasionally produced, and they mate with females to form cysts that can live in a dormant periphyton plants that grow on or from the bottom of a water body Feeding – Some species are able to filter small organisms and other food particles from the state for years. Most snails are hermaphrodites, with both male and female reproductive systems. water. Other species hunt prey, eat plants or scavenge. Although they do not fertilize their own eggs, in these species any two snails can mate. Insects phytoplankton tiny organisms that float in the water column and are capable of use a variety of reproductive strategies. making their own food Protection – A physical barrier, like a protective shell or a case built of stones, sand or plant plankton microscopic organisms suspended in the water material, can be used to help escape predation. Behavioral adaptations (fleeing, burrowing or Dispersal – Many aquatic insect adults can fly. Moving to a new area is simple for them. hiding) also are effective. Coloration that blends with the surroundings affords protection as Crayfish are capable of leaving water to travel across land. The adult stage of some insects may plastron thin film of air held to an insect’s body by hairs or scales well. be terrestrial . Flooding can help to disperse species. Ducks, geese and other waterfowl and wading birds may inadvertently take along eggs of aquatic macroinvertebrates on their feet as predaceous feeding on organisms (prey) that the animal (predator) has hunted they move to a different location. The stream current is an effective means of transportation. and killed prehensile adapted for grasping rostrum in insects, a beaklike process semiaquatic living in an environment that is associated with an aquatic envi ronment or living in a wet environment silty covered with dirt, fine sand or other very tiny particles that have Species Descriptions been carried and deposited by water spring a place where groundwater exits onto the earth’s surface aquatic mite Order Prostigmata leech Class Hirudinea terrestrial living on land Water mites are common year-round in aquatic habitats throughout Illinois. Ranging from Leeches are segmented worms. Their body is flattened and has 34 segments. They may be transparent to blue, green, red and other colors, these animals are often conspicuous in a variety brightly colored or have a distinctive pattern, although usually their background color is transformation change in form, such as from an immature to the adult of habitats. Water mites seen swimming freely are adults. Immature individuals seek out various some shade of brown, gray or black. The underside of the body has a sucker at each end, with insect hosts, including beetles, true bugs, stoneflies, true flies and dragonflies.

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