title: Carnivorous planktonic Difflugia (Protista, Amoebina Testacea) and their predators.
abstract: Four planktonic species of Difflugia co-occurring in a south Chinese reservoir were found to be carnivorous, but the diet was widest in the largest species (D. tuberspinifera) and narrowest in the smallest (D. hydrostatica). It included rotifers, ciliates, dinoflagellates, floating eggs, and small particles associated with organic debris. Scavenging and cannibalism were also observed. Species with a collared test (D. biwae, D. mulanensis) showed a form of suction-feeding, while species with teeth on the pseudostome used these, together with their pseudopods, as "inverted crown corks", providing leverage for opening the lorica of their (rotifer) prey. Predators of Difflugia included cyclopoid copepods. In addition, the rotifers Asplanchna priodonta, Ploesoma hudsoni and, occasionally, big ciliates (Stentor sp.) all ingested their prey as a whole.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Bo-Ping
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qiu Qi
authors.initials: QQ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jinyu
authors.forename: Henri J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Dumont
mesh_terms: D000656:Amoeba / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D016798:Ciliophora / Q000502:physiology; D033342:Copepoda / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D020387:Food Chain; D005618:Fresh Water; D010933:Plankton / Q000502:physiology*; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D012403:Rotifera / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity