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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Culicomorpha » Midges (Chironomidae) » Orthocladiinae » Cricotopus » subgenus Isocladius (Cricotopus subgenus Isocladius)
Photo#245295
Midges 0045 - Cricotopus - female
Copyright © 2008 Steve Nanz

Midges 0045 - Cricotopus - Female
Pymatuning Lake, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, USA
July 2, 2008
Found this mass of mostly female midges on the shore of Pymatuning Lake. I'm pretty sure that there is enough detail in these images to eventually ID them to species.

I am puzzled as to what they are doing massed together like this. One odd thing I noticed is that there appeared to be long segmented worms within the mass. One one the "worms" looked like it has a head similar to a planarian.

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Midges 0045 - Cricotopus - female Midges 0045 - Cricotopus - female Midges 0045 - Cricotopus - female Midges 0045 - Cricotopus - female
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Contributed by Steve Nanz on 18 December, 2008 - 5:27am
Last updated 21 January, 2009 - 12:59pm

Moved
Moved from Cricotopus.
… John F. Carr, 21 January, 2009 - 12:59pm login or register to post comments

Probably Cricotopus lebetis
Probably Cricotopus lebetis Sublette[cite:245227].

Fore tibia have white ring with basal black band wider than apical. That plus location gives you Cricotopus (Isocladius). An additional yellow segment after the first narrows it to two species in Northeast USA. The last step in the key is a close call: is the dark band at the end of the mid and hind femora sharply defined (C. trifasciatus) or blended (C. lebetis); are the vittae (black spots on shoulders) sharply defined (C. trifasciatus); is the rest of the scutum dark and likely darker at the back (C. lebetis) or uniformly yellow (C. trifasciatus)?

The wing iridescence you see is used in the key, but not for this species. Some species have "red-purple-blue-green", some have "bronze". Yours has both so I'm glad it's not a kind where I need to pick.

I suspect some of these are freshly emerged so the colors may be off.
… John F. Carr, 18 December, 2008 - 3:59pm login or register to post comments

Nice!
Very nice photos!
… Carol Davis, 18 December, 2008 - 12:46pm login or register to post comments

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