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Peter S Cranston - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • skusella freeman diptera Chironomidae new species immature stages from africa asia and australia and expanded distributions
    Zootaxa, 2018
    Co-Authors: Peter S Cranston, Hongqu Tang
    Abstract:

    Skusella Freeman, 1961 (Diptera: Chironomidae, Chironominae), known previously from adults from Australia and Africa, is revised with extended descriptions, including for immature life stages. Skusella is diagnosed based on its type species S. subvittata (Skuse, 1889) from Australia, S. pallidipes (Kieffer, 1921) from the Afrotropical region (the only other originally included species), a second African species S. freemani Harrison, 2002, and S. silingae Tang, sp. n., newly described here from the pupa and adult males from China. The immature stages of Skusella have been known informally for several decades, notably for a characteristic fringe of setae on one or more abdominal pleurae of the pupa, shared only with newly described Paraskusella Cranston, 2018 within the Chironominae. Amongst larvae of Chironomini with 6-segmented antenna, alternate Lauterborn organs and a well-demarcated ventromentum, those of Skusella are distinguishable only with caution due to insufficient reared associations. Unassociated pupal exuviae, tentatively belonging to three unknown new species, are described informally from China, as is a larval type from Africa. Range extensions include for S. freemani , with pupae (newly described here) from Nigeria and Cameroon, at least 5000 km from the type locality in South Africa. A wider distribution of S. subvittata in Australia and Asia is revealed by extensive pupal exuviae sampled from drift.

  • nomenclatural corrections to australian species of cricotopus wulp diptera Chironomidae
    Zootaxa, 2015
    Co-Authors: Peter S Cranston, Matthew N Krosch
    Abstract:

    Our attention has been drawn to lapsi and errors in a recent publication in this journal concerning Cricotopus Wulp (Diptera: Chironomidae) (Drayson et al ., 2015).

  • taxonomic review of the chironomid genus cricotopus v d wulp diptera Chironomidae from australia keys to males females pupae and larvae description of ten new species and comments on paratrichocladius santos abreu
    Science & Engineering Faculty, 2015
    Co-Authors: Nick Drayson, Peter S Cranston, Matthew N Krosch
    Abstract:

    The Australian species of the Orthocladiinae genus Cricotopus Wulp (Diptera: Chironomidae) are revised for larval, pupal, adult male and female life stages. Eleven species, ten of which are new, are recognised and keyed, namely Cricotopus acornis Drayson & Cranston sp. nov., Cricotopus albitarsis Hergstrom sp. nov., Cricotopus annuliventris (Skuse), Cricotopus brevicornis Drayson & Cranston sp. nov., Cricotopus conicornis Drayson & Cranston sp. nov., Cricotopus hillmani Drayson & Cranston, sp. nov., Cricotopus howensis Cranston sp. nov., Cricotopus parbicinctus Hergstrom sp. nov., Cricotopus tasmania Drayson & Cranston sp. nov., Cricotopus varicornis Drayson & Cranston sp. nov. and Cricotopus wangi Cranston & Krosch sp. nov. Using data from this study, we consider the wider utility of morphological and molecular diagnostic tools in untangling species diversity in the Chironomidae. Morphological support for distinguishing Cricotopus from Paratrichocladius Santo-Abreu in larval and pupal stages appears lacking for Australian taxa and brief notes are provided concerning this matter.

  • a new putatively cryptobiotic midge polypedilum ovahimba sp nov diptera Chironomidae from southern africa
    Australian Journal of Entomology, 2014
    Co-Authors: Peter S Cranston
    Abstract:

    A second species of Polypedilum (Diptera: Chironomidae) is inferred to tolerate desiccation in an African rock pool habitat similar to the well-known anhydrobiotic Polypedilum vanderplanki Hinton. The species, Polypedilum ovahimba sp. nov., is described and illustrated as new to science from Namibia.

  • a dated molecular phylogeny for the Chironomidae diptera
    Systematic Entomology, 2012
    Co-Authors: Peter S Cranston, Nate B Hardy, Geoffrey E Morse
    Abstract:

    We provide the first highly sampled phylogeny estimate for the dipteran family Chironomidae using molecular data from fragments of two ribosomal genes (18S and 28S), one nuclear protein-coding gene (CAD), and one mitochondrial protein-coding gene (COI), analysed using mixed-model Bayesian and maximum likelihood inference methods. The most recently described subfamilies Chilenomyiinae and Usambaromyiinae proved elusive, and are unsampled. We confirm monophyly of all sampled subfamilies except Prodiamesinae, which contains Propsilocerus Kieffer, previously in Orthocladiinae. The semifamily Chironomoinae is confirmed only if Telmatogetoninae is included, which is closer to Brundin's original suggestion. Buchonomyiinae is excluded from Chironomoinae: it is a sister group to all remaining Chironomidae, conforming more to Murray and Ashe's argumentation. Semifamily Tanypodoinae is a grade and unsupported as monophyletic: the austral Aphroteniinae alone is sister to all Chironomidae (less Buchonomyiinae). Podonominae is weakly supported as the next sister group, in contrast to some estimates that place this subfamily as sister group to Tanypodinae alone. In Diamesinae, the southern African Harrisonini is confirmed as a member, but embedded within austral tribe Heptagiini, which is confirmed as sister to the undersampled Diamesini. Tribe Pentaneurini and ‘non-Pentaneurini’ taxa are reciprocally monophyletic in Tanypodinae. Recent molecular findings concerning Podonominae are substantiated, with a monophyletic tribe Podonomini, Boreochlini forming a grade and Lasiodiamesa Kieffer placed as sister to all other Podonominae, but with uncertainty. In Orthocladiinae, a postulated two-tribe system of Orthocladiini and Metriocnemini can be supported after exclusion of a Corynoneura group and a Brillia group, which is revealed as sister to Stictocladius Edwards. The marine Clunio Haliday and Thalassosmittia Strenzke & Remmert (given high rank in the past) are clearly embedded deep in Orthocladiinae. The finding of Shangomyia Saether & Wang + Xyiaomyia Saether & Wang as sister group to all other Chironominae justifies high rank, as their authors suggested. Pseudochironomini (untested by sampling shortfall) is sister to a monophyletic Tanytarsini (with a weakly supported inclusion of the enigmatic Nandeva Wiedenbrug, Reiss & Fittkau). The tribe Chironomini can be supported only by excluding Shangomyia + Xyiaomyia, and a postulated monophyletic clade comprising several taxa such as Microtendipes Kieffer, with six-segmented larval antennae and alternate Lauterborn organs, that is sister group to Pseudochironomini + Tanytarsini. The tempo of diversification of the family, deduced by divergence time analysis (beast), shows Permian origination with subfamily stem-group origination from the mid–late Triassic to the early Cretaceous. Crown-group origination ranged from Podonominae on a short stem originating in the mid Jurassic to long-stemmed Aphroteninae from the late Cretaceous. Node dates allow inference of some vicariance via Gondwanan fragmentation, including certain nodes involving southern Africa.

Edmund A Jarzembowski - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • new non biting midges diptera Chironomidae from lower cretaceous wealden amber of the isle of wight uk
    Cretaceous Research, 2019
    Co-Authors: Viktor Baranov, Wojciech Gilka, Marta Zakrzewska, Edmund A Jarzembowski
    Abstract:

    Abstract Non-biting midges (Chironomidae) from Lower Cretaceous Wealden amber of the Isle of Wight (lower Barremian, ca. 128 Ma) are reviewed. As a result, Dungeyella gavini Jarzembowski, Azar et Nel, 2008, the only chironomid species known from this amber deposit, is for the first time recognised from the adult male, and the systematic position of Dungeyella within the subfamily Buchonomyiinae is established. Libanodiamesa simpsoni sp. nov. (Prodiamesinae), now found in Wealden amber, is the second species of the genus previously only recorded from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber. A detailed morphological analysis revealed characters (wing venation patterns, genital apparatus structure) defined as unique for the two genera, the diagnoses of which are amended. Biogeographical features of the Wealden amber Chironomidae are also discussed against the background of their fossil records from the Cretaceous.

Viktor Baranov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • new non biting midges diptera Chironomidae from lower cretaceous wealden amber of the isle of wight uk
    Cretaceous Research, 2019
    Co-Authors: Viktor Baranov, Wojciech Gilka, Marta Zakrzewska, Edmund A Jarzembowski
    Abstract:

    Abstract Non-biting midges (Chironomidae) from Lower Cretaceous Wealden amber of the Isle of Wight (lower Barremian, ca. 128 Ma) are reviewed. As a result, Dungeyella gavini Jarzembowski, Azar et Nel, 2008, the only chironomid species known from this amber deposit, is for the first time recognised from the adult male, and the systematic position of Dungeyella within the subfamily Buchonomyiinae is established. Libanodiamesa simpsoni sp. nov. (Prodiamesinae), now found in Wealden amber, is the second species of the genus previously only recorded from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber. A detailed morphological analysis revealed characters (wing venation patterns, genital apparatus structure) defined as unique for the two genera, the diagnoses of which are amended. Biogeographical features of the Wealden amber Chironomidae are also discussed against the background of their fossil records from the Cretaceous.

  • effects of bioirrigation of non biting midges diptera Chironomidae on lake sediment respiration
    Scientific Reports, 2016
    Co-Authors: Viktor Baranov, Jorg Lewandowski, Paul Romeijn, Gabriel Singer, Stefan Krause
    Abstract:

    Bioirrigation or the transport of fluids into the sediment matrix due to the activities of organisms such as bloodworms (larvae of Diptera, Chironomidae), has substantial impacts on sediment respiration in lakes. However, previous quantifications of bioirrigation impacts of Chironomidae have been limited by technical challenges such as the difficulty to separate faunal and bacterial respiration. This paper describes a novel method based on the bioreactive tracer resazurin for measuring respiration in-situ in non-sealed systems with constant oxygen supply. Applying this new method in microcosm experiments revealed that bioirrigation enhanced sediment respiration by up to 2.5 times. The new method is yielding lower oxygen consumption than previously reported, as it is only sensitive to aerobic heterotrophous respiration and not to other processes causing oxygen decrease. Hence it decouples the quantification of respiration of animals and inorganic oxygen consumption from microbe respiration in sediment.

  • First record of a Chironomidae pupa in amber
    Geobios, 2015
    Co-Authors: Trond Andersen, Viktor Baranov, Tomasz Goral, Peter Langton, Evgeny E. Perkovsky, Dan Sykes
    Abstract:

    Abstract A pupal exuviae of a non-biting midge (Chironomidae) is recorded in Eocene Rovno amber from Ukraine. The exuviae belongs to an Orthocladiinae species. It possesses several traits characteristic for terrestrial species including non-fringed anal lobes without macrosetae, tergites with only minute shagreen, bare conjunctives, and absence of thoracic horns and frontal warts. Up to now, this is the earliest record of a preimaginal stage of Orthocladiinae, and the only record of a Chironomidae pupal exuviae from amber.

  • Hibernal Emergence of Chironomidae in Ukraine
    CHIRONOMUS Journal of Chironomidae Research, 2013
    Co-Authors: Viktor Baranov, Leonard C. Ferrington
    Abstract:

    Twenty-seven species of Chironomidae were detected emerging in the Crimea during the period from December 2010 to March 2013. Twenty-three are Orthocladiinae and 4 are Chironominae (one Chironomini and three Tanytarsini species). Nine species are recorded for the first time in Crimea. At the genus-level the hibernal emergence in Crimea shows resemblance to the patterns reported for streams in Kansas.

Maria Joao Feio - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Chironomidae traits and life history strategies as indicators of anthropogenic disturbance
    Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2017
    Co-Authors: Sonia R Q Serra, Manuel A S Graca, Sylvain Doledec, Maria Joao Feio
    Abstract:

    In freshwater ecosystems, Chironomidae are currently considered indicators of poor water quality because the family is often abundant in degraded sites. However, it incorporates taxa with a large ecological and physiological diversity and different sensitivity to impairment. Yet, the usual identification of Chironomidae at coarse taxonomic levels (family or subfamily) masks genus and species sensitivities. In this study, we investigate the potential of taxonomic and functional (traits) composition of Chironomidae to detect anthropogenic disturbance. In this context, we tested some a priori hypotheses regarding the ability of Chironomidae taxonomic and trait compositions to discriminate Mediterranean streams affected by multiple stressors from least-disturbed streams. Both taxonomic and Eltonian trait composition discriminated sites according to their disturbance level. Disturbance resulted in the predicted increase of Chironomidae with higher number of stages with hibernation/diapause and of taxa with resistance forms and unpredicted increase of the proportion of taxa with longer life cycles and few generations per year. Life history strategies (LHS), corresponding to multivoltine Chironomidae that do not invest in hemoglobin and lack strong spring synchronization, were well adapted to all our Mediterranean sites with highly changeable environmental conditions. Medium-size animals favored in disturbed sites where the Mediterranean hydrological regime is altered, but the reduced number of larger-size/carnivore Chironomids suggests a limitation to secondary production. Results indicate that Chironomidae genus and respective traits could be a useful tool in the structural and functional assessment of Mediterranean streams. The ubiquitous nature of Chironomidae should be also especially relevant in the assessment of water bodies naturally poor in other groups such as the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera, such as the lowland rivers with sandy substrates, lakes, or reservoirs.

  • synthesising the trait information of european Chironomidae insecta diptera towards a new database
    Ecological Indicators, 2016
    Co-Authors: Sonia R Q Serra, Fernando Cobo, Manuel A S Graca, Sylvain Doledec, Maria Joao Feio
    Abstract:

    Abstract Chironomidae are among the most conspicuous and ecological diverse group of freshwater invertebrates. They may dominate unimpacted communities in abundance and biomass, accounting for more than 50% of macroinvertebrate species in standing and flowing waters. In deep zones of eutrophic lakes and highly human-impacted streams, they are often the only family of aquatic insects remaining. In bioassessment programmes, Chironomids are often identified at the family and subfamily levels, due to difficulties in the taxonomic identification of larvae resulting from a high intrinsic morphological similarity. This may potentially result in bias as, similarly to Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera or Plecoptera, Chironomidae species, which are replaced along natural and human-impacted gradients due to differences in their ecological requirements. Recently, multiple trait-based approaches have been proposed to complement taxonomic-based assessment of streams and rivers using macroinvertebrates. However, the lack of specific trait information for Chironomidae prevents their use in the functional assessment of communities. Therefore, here, we aimed to: (1) develop a trait database for European Chironomidae genera that can be used in future bioassessment and ecological studies; (2) evaluate, by multivariate analyses, whether our new database provides additional information on Chironomidae compared to the trait information provided in the commonly used European trait database ( Tachet et al., 2010 ); and (3) determine whether the new information on Eltonian traits (proxy to biological traits) translates the most accepted phylogenetic relationships among Chironomidae subfamilies. We gathered information on 744 species and 178 genera, for 37 traits covering 186 trait categories, and found substantial differences between our database and the commonly used European trait database. In addition, available information on traits was not always in agreement with phylogenetic relationships among subfamilies. Orthocladiinae and Chironominae which are considered sister groups in evolutionary terms actually showed confident trait relatedness based on Eltonian traits tree while the remaining relationships between subfamilies are questionable. In addition, different traits can occur in closely related taxa depending on the environmental drivers operating on their habitats. Our study reveals that the usually accepted redundancy within the Chironomidae family and subfamilies must be a product of averaging the information from finer taxonomic resolution added to the substantial lack of information for this insect group.

Boudewijn Goddeeris - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Diversity of the Chironomidae (diptera) of river Niger related to water pollution at Niamey (Niger)
    African Journal of Science and Technology, 2020
    Co-Authors: Bassirou Alhou, Jean-claude Micha, Boudewijn Goddeeris
    Abstract:

    This paper presents the first results on the water quality of the River Niger at Niamey based on the Chironomidae . Artificial substrata of stones covered with galvanized wire netting were used for collecting the chironomid larvae. Water samples were taken for physicochemical analysis. Twenty taxa of Chironomidae were collected. Among these, Chironomus gr. plumosus represented51% and Microchironomus sp. 26% of all larvae collected. The distribution of Chironomidae throughout the river showed differences between the sampling stations. Organic pollution and nutrients loading were the main factors explaining the differences in spatial distribution. Some taxa, e.g. Chironomus gr. plumosus and Microchironomus sp. are positively correlated to those factors, while others as Tanytarsini , Nilodosis sp., Micropelopinae and Procladius sp. are negatively correlated. According to these results, Chironomidae appear an excellent tool for the assessment of the biological quality of western African rivers. Keywords: Chironomidae , River Niger, Niamey, water quality

  • Diversity of Chironomidae, in relation to pollution of the river Niger at Niamey, Niger
    International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 2010
    Co-Authors: Bassirou Alhou, Jean-claude Micha, Boudewijn Goddeeris
    Abstract:

    This paper presents the first results on the quality of the River Niger at Niamey based on the Chironomidae infestation of its water. Two sampling methods were used for collecting the chironomid larvae and included use of hand net of 500 >m mesh-size and artificial substrata of stones covered with galvanized wire netting. Water samples were subjected to physicochemical analysis. Twenty taxa of Chironomidae were collected. Among these,  Chironomus gr. plumosus represented 51% and Microchironomus sp. 18% of all larvae collected. The distribution of Chironomidae throughout the river showed differences between the sampling stations. Organic pollution and nutrients loading were the main factors explaining the differences in spatial distribution. Chironomus gr. plumosus and Microchironomus sp. were positively correlated to those factors, while others as Tanytarsini, Nilodosis sp., Micropelopinae and Procladius sp. were negatively correlated. According to these results, Chironomidae diversity could be a useful tool for the assessment of the biological quality of the River Niger at the study site. Keywords: Chironomidae, River Niger, water quality, pollution, Niger