red midge - Clinotanypus

Thank you Dr. Epler

If I find another one of these, I'll be sure to save the specimen.

… tom murray, 16 January, 2009 - 7:49am

WOW

That's quite the explanation. I guess for now I should keep it in the subfamily page, and wait for Clinotanypus to be proven or disproved. Thanks John.

… tom murray, 11 January, 2009 - 1:42pm

Tanypodinae, maybe Clinotanypus

M-Cu crossvein present rules out the nearest family (Ceratopogonidae).

Within Chironomidae, 13+ segmented female antenna indicates Podonominae or Tanypodinae.

M-Cu crossvein at R-M is a point in favor of Tanypodinae; Podonominae usually have it more basal. This appears to have an R2+3 vein, ruling out Podonominae. It also appears to have the distinct R1/R2/R3 of Tanypodinae, which would be conslusive without antenna segmentation if it were clearly visible.

The picture here has a water drop over the M-Cu vein. The pbase picture shows the vein better, and shows M-Cu intersecting before the fork in Cu. The ratio of the second fork of Cu to the stem is about 2.8. The costa extends past the last branch of R.

The genera of Tanypodinae with Cu "petiolate" are Clinotanypus, Coelotanypus, Tanypus, Procladius, and Djalmabatista. The last two have a smaller "cubital ratio." Tanypus is the wrong color and has a lump in the middle of the thorax. Coelotanypus has a larger cubital ratio. That leaves Clinotanypus.

Clinotanypus comes in a wide variety of colors, including orange and dark red-brown. This color pattern tends to be found in Florida, not Massachusetts. The most similar species C. wirthi is not recorded outside of Florida but I suspect it is really a synonym of the widespread species C. pinguis. Size 5.5 mm is also a little too large; the genus seems to top out at just under 5mm for females.

The number of antenna segments could help. I get a different number each time I count.

The legs are also not quite right; normally the fourth tarsal segment should be short and wider than the fifth.

… John F. Carr, 11 January, 2009 - 12:43pm

Clinotanypus cf. wirthi

John, the critter appears to be a Clinotanypus - in one of the pictures it looks like one can even see the dorsomedian setae on the postnotum. It does appear to have a cordiform 4th tarsomere.

And, yes, it does appear to match the description of C. wirthi - but as you also noted, there's a good chance this species is a "color variant" of C. pinguis. C. wirthi is still really only known from Florida (and only from south Florida so far) - mainly because very few people ever look at adult midges on a species level.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a specimen is worth a thousand pictures ...

… J. H. Epler, 16 January, 2009 - 7:35am

Closeup?

Closeups of the wing veins and tarsi would be helpful.

… John F. Carr, 1 January, 2009 - 4:31pm

Closeup added

John, is that image give what you're looking for?

… tom murray, 8 January, 2009 - 9:27pm