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Photo#11754
Midge? - male

Midge? - Male
Licking County, Ohio, USA
August 21, 2004
This one has been bugging me for awhile. It was originally identified by me as a saltmarsh mosquito, using a field guide that contained all of two midges. I'm slightly more experienced now, but still not sure what this is.

I believe it's a Chironomus midge. Can anyone confirm this and suggest a species ID?

Body was very long, at least 1/2". Fairly common. They perched conspicuously on leaves, grasses and near flowers.

Images of this individual: tag all
Midge? - male Midge? - male

Moved
Moved from Chironominae.

Size
As far as I can tell there are only three genera of Chironominae that exceed a wing length of 6 mm: Axarus, Chironomus, and Glyptotendipes. But I have noticed a tendency to overestimate sizes. A half inch is unusually large even for the largest midge, Chironomus plumosus. ("Large specimens reach a wing length of 7.5 mm and in the male, a body length of 13 mm." according to Townes' review of the tribe Chironomini.)

Moved
Moved from Midges.

Chironominae
Wing veins are used for ID of midges to subfamily and sometimes tribe, but the front legs of subfamily Chironominae are distinctive combined with the lack of evidence to the contrary in what I can see of the wings.

ID to species is sometimes literally impossible by external examination. Many species of Chironomus are separated by chromosome patterns.

nice shot!
Did you ever find out any more info?
I see these on the undersides of leaves, especially during the rain this spring. Some have the "fuzzy" antennae, some don't..Male/Female?
Wonderful detail in your picture.
BTW: I live in Northern California.

@Ķąŧħ@

 
Well...
Well, I'm pretty sure it got moved to here from the "ID Request" area by a moderator, so it looks like I was correct on the Midge ID.

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