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Macroinvertebrates
Chironomidae
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The Chironomidae is a large and diverse family of flies. They are commonly known as "non-biting midges." There are over 20,000 species known world-wide, including 2,000 in the Nearctic. Adult midges are relatively small (1-20 mm long), with narrow bodies and long legs. They are often confused with mosquitos, but no members of this family are blood-feeders (hence the "non-biting" part of the common name). Adults, if they feed at all, feed on nectar or similar substances. Midge larvae are nearly all aquatic or sub-aquatic, and are a very important part of many freshwater ecosystems. Both in numbers and in diversity, they are often the largest group of primary consumers in these systems. Species of Chironomidae can be found in an enormous variety of aquatic habitats, from brackish estuaries to pools in tree-holes, and from low-oxygen lake sediments to fast-flowing mountain streams.
- McCafferty, W. 1983. Aquatic Entomology: The Fishermen's and Ecologists' Illustrated Guide to Insect and Their Relatives. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc..
- Coffman, W., L. Ferrington Jr.. 1996. Chironomidae. Pp. 591-754 in R Merritt, K Cummins, eds. An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America. Dubuque, Iowa, USA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
- Foote, B. 1987. Chironomidae (Chironomoidea). Pp. 762-764 in F Stehr, ed. Immature Insects, Vol. 2. Dubuque, Iowa, USA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
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Species of chironomid midges are found in moist or wet habitats in all major landmasses of the world, including Antarctica, and most islands.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Native ); australian (Native ); antarctica (Native ); oceanic islands (Native )
Other Geographic Terms: cosmopolitan
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Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids or nonbiting midges) are a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many species superficially resemble mosquitoes, but they lack the wing scales and elongated mouthparts of the Culicidae.
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Common names and biodiversity[edit]
This is a large taxon of insects; some estimates of the species numbers suggest well over 10000 world-wide.[1] Males are easily recognized by their plumose antennae. Adults are known by a variety of vague and inconsistent common names, largely by confusion with other insects. For example, chironomids are known as "lake flies" in parts of Canada and Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, but "bay flies" in the areas near the bay of Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are called "sand flies", "muckleheads",[2] or "muffleheads"[3] in various regions of the USA Great Lakes area. They have been called "blind mosquitoes" or "chizzywinks" in Florida, in northern Ohio, USA, and by Canadian soldiers.[4] However, they are not mosquitoes of any sort, and the term "sandflies" generally refers to various species of biting flies unrelated to the Chironomidae.
The group includes Belgica antarctica, the largest terrestrial animal of Antarctica.
The biodiversity of Chironomidae often goes unnoticed because they are notoriously difficult to identify and ecologists usually record them by species groups. Each morphologically distinct group comprises a number of morphologically identical (sibling) species that can only be identified by rearing adult males or by cytogenetic analysis of the polytene chromosomes. Polytene chromosomes were originally observed in the larval salivary glands of Chironomus midges by Balbiani in 1881. They form through repeated rounds of DNA replication without cell division, resulting in characteristic light and dark banding patterns which can be used to identify inversions and deletions which allow species identification.
Behavior and description[edit]
Larval stages of Chironomidae can be found in almost any aquatic or semiaquatic habitat, including treeholes, bromeliads, rotting vegetation, soil, and in sewage and artificial containers. They form an important fraction of the macro zoobenthos of most freshwater ecosystems. They are often associated with degraded or low biodiversity ecosystems because some species have adapted to virtually anoxic conditions and are dominant in polluted waters. Larvae of some species are bright red in color due to a hemoglobin analog; these are often known as "bloodworms".[5] Their ability to capture oxygen is further increased by their making undulating movements.[6]
Many reference sources in the past century or so have repeated the assertion that Chironomidae do not feed as adults, but an increasing body of evidence contradicts this view. Adults of many species do in fact feed. The natural foods reported include fresh fly dropping, nectar, pollen and honeydew, and various sugar-rich materials.[1]
The question whether feeding is of practical importance has by now been clearly settled for some Chironomus species, at least; specimens that had fed on sucrose flew far longer than starved specimens, and starved females longer than starved males, which suggested they had eclosed with larger reserves of energy than the males. Some authors suggest the females and males apply the resources obtained in feeding differently. Males expend the extra energy on flight, while females use their food resources to achieve longer lifespans. The respective strategies should be compatible with maximal probability of successful mating and reproduction in those species that do not mate immediately after eclosion, and in particular in species that have more than one egg mass maturing, the less developed masses being oviposited after a delay. Such variables also would be relevant to species that exploit wind for dispersal, laying eggs at intervals. Chironomids that feed on nectar or pollen may well be of importance as pollinators, but current evidence on such points is largely anecdotal. However, the content of protein and other nutrients in pollen, in comparison to nectar, might well contribute to the females' reproductive capacities.[1]
Adults can be pests when they emerge in large numbers. They can damage paint, brick, and other surfaces with their droppings. When large numbers of adults die they can build up into malodorous piles. They can provoke allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.[7]
Ecology[edit]
Larvae and pupae are important food items for fish, such as trout, Banded killifish, and sticklebacks, and for other aquatic organisms. An amphibian that eats them is the rough-skinned newt.[8] Many aquatic insects, such as various predatory hemipterans in the families Nepidae, Notonectidae and Corixidae eat Chironomidae in their aquatic phases. So do predatory water beetles in families such as Dytiscidae and Hydrophilidae. Fly anglers design and tie imitators to catch trout. The flying midges are eaten by fish and insectivorous birds, such as swallows and martins. They also are preyed on by bats and flying predatory insects, such as Odonata and dance flies.
Chironomidae are important as indicator organisms, i.e., the presence, absence, or quantities of various species in a body of water can indicate whether pollutants are present. Also, their fossils are widely used by palaeolimnologists as indicators of past environmental changes, including past climatic variability.[9]
Anhydrobiosis and stress resistance[edit]
Anhydrobiosis is the ability of an organism to survive in the dry state. Anhydrobiotic larvae of the African chironomid Polypedilum vanderplanki can withstand prolonged complete desiccation (reviewed by Cornette and Kikawada[10]). These larvae can also withstand other external stresses including ionizing radiation.[11] The effects of anhydrobiosis, gamma ray and heavy-ion irradiation on the nuclear DNA and gene expression of these larvae were studied by Gusev et al.[11] They found that larval DNA becomes severely fragmented both upon anhydrobiosis and irradiation, and that these breaks are later repaired during rehydration or upon recovery from irradiation. An analysis of gene expression and antioxidant activity suggested the importance of removal of reactive oxygen species as well as the removal of DNA damages by repair enzymes. Expression of genes encoding DNA repair enzymes increased upon entering anhydrobiosis or upon exposure to radiation, and these increases indicated that when DNA damages occurred they were subsequently repaired. In particular, expression of the Rad51 gene was substantially up-regulated following irradiation and during rehydration.[11] The Rad51 protein plays a key role in homologous recombination, a process required for the accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks.
Subfamilies and genera[edit]
The family is divided into 11 subfamilies: Aphroteniinae, Buchonomyiinae, Chilenomyinae, Chironominae, Diamesinae, Orthocladiinae, Podonominae, Prodiamesinae, Tanypodinae, Telmatogetoninae, Usambaromyiinae.[12][13] Most species belong to Chironominae, Orthocladiinae, and Tanypodinae. Diamesinae, Podonominae, Prodiamesinae, and Telmatogetoninae are medium size subfamilies with tens to hundreds of species. The remaining four subfamilies have fewer than five species each.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Armitage, P. D., Cranston, P. S., Pinder, L. C. V. (1995). The Chironomidae: biology and ecology of non-biting midges. London: Chapman & Hall. ISBN 0-412-45260-X.
- ^ "Muckleheads" from Andre's Weather World (Andre Bernier, staff at WJW-TV), June 2, 2007.
- ^ "You don't love muffleheads, but Lake Erie does", Sandusky Register, May 29, 2007.
- ^ "Chizzywinks are Blind Mosquitos by Dan Culbert of the University of Florida, August 17, 2005
- ^ W.P. Coffman and L.C. Ferrington, Jr. 1996. Chironomidae. pp. 635-754. In: R.W. Merritt and K.W. Cummins, eds. An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
- ^ Int Panis, L; Goddeeris, B.; Verheyen, R (1996). "On the relationship between vertical microdistribution and adaptations to oxygen stress in littoral Chironomidae (Diptera)". Hydrobiologia 318: 61–67. doi:10.1007/BF00014132.
- ^ A. Ali. 1991. Perspectives on management of pestiferous Chironomidae (Diptera), an emerging global problem. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 7: 260-281.
- ^ C. Michael Hogan (2008) Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa), Globaltwitcher, ed. Nicklas Stromberg [1]
- ^ Walker, I. R. 2001. Midges: Chironomidae and related Diptera. pp. 43-66, In: J. P. Smol, H. J. B. Birks, and W. M. Last (eds). Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 4. Zoological Indicators. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
- ^ Cornette R, Kikawada T (June 2011). "The induction of anhydrobiosis in the sleeping chironomid: current status of our knowledge". IUBMB Life 63 (6): 419–29. doi:10.1002/iub.463. PMID 21547992.
- ^ a b c Gusev O, Nakahara Y, Vanyagina V, Malutina L, Cornette R, Sakashita T, Hamada N, Kikawada T, Kobayashi Y, Okuda T (2010). "Anhydrobiosis-associated nuclear DNA damage and repair in the sleeping chironomid: linkage with radioresistance". PLoS ONE 5 (11): e14008. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014008. PMC 2982815. PMID 21103355.
- ^ J.H. Epler. 2001. Identification manual for the larval Chironomidae (Diptera) of North and South Carolina. North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- ^ Armitage, P., Cranston, P.S., and Pinder, L.C.V. (eds.) (1994) The Chironomidae: Biology and Ecology of Non-biting Midges. Chapman and Hall, London, 572 pp.
- ^ Ekrem, Torbjørn. "Systematics and biogeography of Zavrelia, Afrozavrelia and Stempellinella (Diptera: Chironomidae)". Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- ^ Makarchenko, Eugenyi A. (2005). "A new species of Arctodiamesa Makarchenko (Diptera: Chironomidae: Diamesinae) from the Russian Far East, with a key to known species of the genus" (PDF). Zootaxa 1084: 59–64. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
- ^ Caldwell, Broughton A.; Soponis, Annelle R. (1982). "Hudsonimyia Parrishi, a New Species of Tanypodinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Georgia" (PDF). The Florida Entomologist (Lutz, FL, USA: Florida Entomological Society) 65 (4): 506–513. doi:10.2307/3494686. ISSN 0015-4040. JSTOR 3494686. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
- ^ Halvorsen, Godtfred A. (1982). "Saetheriella amplicristata gen. n., sp. n., a new Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Tennessee". Aquatic Insects, International Journal of Freshwater Entomology (Taylor & Francis) 4 (3): 131–136. doi:10.1080/01650428209361098. ISSN 1744-4152.
- ^ Andersen, Trond; Sæther, Ole A. (January 1994). "Usambaromyia nigrala gen. n., sp. n., and Usambaromyiinae, a new subfamily among the Chironomidae (Diptera)". Aquatic Insects, International Journal of Freshwater Entomology (Taylor & Francis) 16 (1): 21–29. doi:10.1080/01650429409361531. ISSN 1744-4152.
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Adults are small (1-20 mm long, most less than 10 mm), slim, long-legged flies. They resemble, and are often confused with, mosquitoes (Culicidae), but unlike mosquitoes, they do not bite, and have no scales on their wings. Many species rest on their hind two pairs of legs, and hold their forelegs out in front of them. In most species, adult males have plumose antennae that are much larger than the females (these are probably used to locate females). Most species are dark-colored, usually brown or black.
Larvae are elongate and cylindrical, with distinct segmentation and a hard sclerotized head capsule that cannot be retracted into the body. They have no true legs, but do have a pair of unjointed "prolegs" on the first segment of the thorax. The presences of this pair of prolegs, the absence of true legs, and the structure of the head are good distinguishing marks for identifying larvae in the Chironomidae. Color varies widely among larvae, most are tan or brown, but some are whitish, some are green. Larvae of a number of species in the subfamily Chironominae have the hemoglobin in their circulatory fluid, which helps them survive in low-oxygen habitats. These larvae are pinkish or red when alive, and are often called "blood midges."
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes shaped differently
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Small to medium-sized flies, 1-10 mm long. Male antenna usually plumose. Wing narrow. Legs long and slender. Male abdomen usually long and slender; terminalia not inverted. Larva apneustic, long, narrow, cylindrical, with strongly sclerotized nonretractile head capsule, and usually with pairs of anterior and posterior prolegs bearing spines or claws. Pupa somewhat comma-shaped, with enlarged cephalothorax and with dorsoventrally flattened abdomen usually bearing apically a pair of flattened lobes; leg sheaths usually curved under wing pads but sometimes extending posteriorly. (Oliver 1981)
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Depth range based on 10 specimens in 2 taxa.
Environmental ranges
Depth range (m): 0.9 - 2.5
Graphical representation
Depth range (m): 0.9 - 2.5
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.
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Midge larvae occur in all kinds of benthic freshwater habitats, including the bottoms of streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and temporary pools, also wetlands such as marshes and swamps. Some breed in isolated damp habitats such as tree-holes, pitcher plants, patches of moist soil, even dung pats. The "blood midges" or "bloodworms" are species of midges with hemoglobin in their hemolymph, which allows them to survive in low-oxygen (and often heavily-polluted) habitats. Adults rarely disperse far from the larval habitat.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; polar ; terrestrial ; freshwater
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest
Aquatic Biomes: benthic ; lakes and ponds; rivers and streams; temporary pools; brackish water
Wetlands: marsh ; swamp ; bog
Other Habitat Features: riparian ; estuarine ; intertidal or littoral
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The many thousands of chironomid species have many different feeding habits. Most species feed on small particles of organic debris, but the size of particles varies, some shred bits of dead wood and leaves, some gather smaller particles, some even filter tiny particles suspended in the water. Some of these detritivores also collect algae cells, and some species are herbivores, specialize in feeding on algae. Other herbivores are "miners" tunneling in larger vascular plants. There are some fungivore chironomids as well, eating spores and grazing on hyphae. A few species are simple predators, often attacking other chironomid species.
Primary Diet: detritivore
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Chironomids are the most diverse and abundant macroinvertebrates in most of the aquatic ecosystems they inhabit (and they inhabit most aquatic ecosystems). Most natural ponds, lakes and streams are home to 50-100 different species of non-biting midges. Collectively, they play a vital role in freshwater ecosystems as primary consumers. They harvest an enormous amount of energy from detritus and are one of the major supports for animal communities in these systems.
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