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Species Polypedilum fallax

Tiny Midge - Polypedilum fallax - male Pennsylvania Fly for ID - Polypedilum fallax Pennsylvania Fly for ID - Polypedilum fallax - male 053120-7 - Polypedilum fallax - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera))
Infraorder Culicomorpha (Mosquitoes and Midges)
Family Chironomidae (Non-biting Midges)
Subfamily Chironominae
Tribe Chironomini
No Taxon (Polypedilum Group)
Genus Polypedilum
No Taxon (subgenus Polypedilum)
Species fallax (Polypedilum fallax)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Chironomus fallax Johannsen, 1905
Explanation of Names
Fallax is Latin for deceptive.
Range
Northeastern North America
Habitat
"medium-sized streams with stony bottoms" (Townes, 1945)
"on or in submerged wood" (Maschwitz and Cook, 2000)
John Epler writes "I’ve examined larvae from the Smoky Mountains that were collected within the cases of the odontocerid caddisfly Psilotreta; the midge larvae were not associated with pupae or adults so it is not clear to which species [of the fallax group] they belong."
Remarks
Polypedilum fallax is distinguished from close relatives by color pattern, but it it possible that there are more or fewer species than color patterns suggest.