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Photo#836654
Spiral egg mass, fresh rainwater in open sailboat bilge water

Spiral egg mass, fresh rainwater in open sailboat bilge water
Mount Vernon, Kennebec County, Maine, USA
September 4, 2013
Size: 7mm X 12mm
I found this egg mass, while bailing my sailboat after heavy rains this week. I was stunned by its beauty and symmetry. The eggs are green, they are about 7mm x 12mm and are covered in a gelatinous coating that seems very much like the sort of coating we see in salamander eggs masses. The eggs themselves are minute, perhaps 0.5 mm in diameter. This mass appeared in my boat in between heavy rains; evidenced by the fact that I had bailed my boat only two days earlier. It was empty then and now the eggs are there. I suspect the mass was deposited by an insect, bt may be totally wrong. Any help is appreciated. Dragonfly? Damselfly?

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Midge?
I suspect a midge or other Culicomorpha, but I haven't checked my midge egg mass book yet.

 
Midge egg mass
Thanks for the tip. Can you provide a reference for me to check, please?

 
Reference
For Chironomidae, nothing easily available.

Nolte, U. 1993. Egg Masses of Chironomidae (Diptera): A Review, Including New Observations and a Preliminary Key. Entomological Scandinavica Supplement 43.

Ceratopogonidae eggs are briefly discussed in the guide to Neotropical Ceratopogonidae (Borkent and Spinelli 2007).

 
Thanks.
I will check this reference. Best regards,
H. Whittemore

 
Life cycle
Any quick comments about life cycle (generic) or gestation of these midge eggs?

 
Probably Chironomini
These are probably in tribe Chironomini. Chironomini eat plant matter (and possibly fungus or bacteria, but generally not other arthropods). They like to conceal themselves at the bottom of a water body. They will probably not find food in a bailing bucket.

 
MIT
Hello again. Interesting to see you are at MIT. my son is now a 2nd semester senior, majoring in MechE, Course 2. He has spent a lot or time in the EAPS labs too. Great place!

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