Chironomoidea

The Chironomoidea are a superfamily within the order Diptera, suborder Nematocera, infraorder Culicomorpha. This superfamily contains the families Chironomidae, Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae.^[1][2]

Chironomoidea
Male Chironomus plumosus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Suborder:	Nematocera
Infraorder:	Culicomorpha
Superfamily:	Chironomoidea
Families
Chironomidae Ceratopogonidae Simuliidae Thaumaleidae

Description

Chironomoidea have four life stages: the egg, the worm-like larva, the pupa and the winged adult.^[3][4]

Ecology

Chironomoidea show a range of habitats and diets. Using the family Chironomidae as an example, larvae occur most commonly in aquatic vegetation and benthic debris, but also in sand covered in fine organic material, pools on granite outcrops, wood snags, muddy lake beds and hygropetric seepages. Pupae may occur near the surface of water, in submerged substrata or amongst benthic debris. Larvae may feed on deposits of organic detritus (gathering collectors), filter diatoms and fine particles of detritus from the water column (filtering collectors), chew or bore into live or dead plant matter (shredders), scrape algae, bacteria and diatoms from surfaces (scrapers) or prey on other invertebrates (predators).^[4]

Adults generally feed on sugar-rich substances such as nectar.^[3][5] Adult females of the families Ceratopogonidae and Simuliidae also feed on blood and can transmit diseases.^[3][6]

Phylogeny

The phylogeny of the Chironomoidea is disputed. Analyses of the male genital tract,^[7] ribosomal RNA^[8] and transcriptome^[9] have showed that the superfamily is not monophyletic.

Evolution

A fossil chironomoid larva of the genus Anisinodus (family unknown) indicates that the superfamily existed during the early Middle Triassic.^[10]

References

1. Yeates, D. K.; Wiegmann, B. M. (1999). "CONGRUENCE AND CONTROVERSY: Toward a Higher-Level Phylogeny of Diptera". Annual Review of Entomology. 44 (1): 397–428. doi:10.1146/annurev.ento.44.1.397. ISSN 0066-4170. PMID 15012378.
2. "Chironomoidea". www.bioimages.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
3. "biting midges, no-see-ums, Culicoides spp". entnemdept.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
4. "Identification and Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates". www.mdfrc.org.au. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
5. Burtt, E. T.; Perry, R. J. O.; McLachlan, A. J. (1986). "Feeding and sexual dimorphism in adult midges (Diptera: Chironomidae)". Ecography. 9 (1): 27–32. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.1986.tb01188.x. ISSN 0906-7590.
6. Adler, Peter H. (2022), "Blackflies (Simuliidae)", Encyclopedia of Infection and Immunity, Elsevier, pp. 874–885, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818731-9.00006-9, ISBN 978-0-323-90303-5, S2CID 243524346, retrieved 2022-08-15
7. Sinclair, Bradley J.; Borkent, Art; Wood, D. Monty (2007). "The male genital tract and aedeagal components of the Diptera with a discussion of their phylogenetic significance". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 150 (4): 711–742. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00314.x. ISSN 1096-3642.
8. Pawlowski, Jan; Szadziewski, Ryszard; Kmieciak, Dariusz; Fahrni, José; Bittar, Gabriel (1996). "Phylogeny of the infraorder Culicomorpha (Diptera: Nematocera) based on 28S RNA gene sequences". Systematic Entomology. 21 (2): 167–178. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3113.1996.d01-5.x. S2CID 86595848.
9. Narayanan Kutty, Sujatha; Wong, Wing Hing; Meusemann, Karen; Meier, Rudolf; Cranston, Peter S. (2018). "A phylogenomic analysis of Culicomorpha (Diptera) resolves the relationships among the eight constituent families: Phylogenomic analysis of Culicomorpha". Systematic Entomology. 43 (3): 434–446. doi:10.1111/syen.12285. S2CID 90255287.
10. Lukashevich, Elena D.; Przhiboro, Andrey A.; Marchal-Papier, Francine; Grauvogel-Stamm, Lea (2010). "The oldest occurrence of immature Diptera (Insecta), Middle Triassic, France". Annales de la Société entomologique de France. Nouvelle Série. 46 (1–2): 4–22. doi:10.1080/00379271.2010.10697636. ISSN 0037-9271. S2CID 86029875.