The larva on the photo above is larger than the specimen on the photo at left, which is an earlier stage. It is darker and carries a few parasitic watermites. The larva might be attacked by the watermite larvae as it scrolls under the water surface, because many watermite larvae run around on it to attach themselves to waterstriders etc. This Spercheus larva was caught six years earlier, same ditch as the specimen above. With the last one I caught again some larva at about the same age as the one left, also with mites. It seems they only attach at a certain age of this larva and let go afterward.

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