P.G. & Research Department of Zoology, Loyola College, Madras-600 034 (India).
Analysis of the functional response of the adult predator, Diplonychus indicus to various combinations of different size classes of larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus as prey revealed that (i) normal aswell as encumbered males showed a preferential selection for the larger rather than the small sized prey, (ii)time interval in attacking the prey was not constant with all prey size classes,and (iii) the predator killed more prey than those from which it sucked the prey contents.
