Chapter 16.2 - Family Chironomidae

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increasing interest in the family Chironomidae (Insecta, Diptera) in the Neotropical and Antarctic regions. Several monographs on individual genera have been published, including species-level keys, as well as extensive reference collections. However, despite these remarkable efforts, the larval chironomid fauna remains poorly known ecologically and taxonomically in the Neotropics and Antarctica. There has been no attempt to construct a comprehensive key to Chironomidae from the aforementioned regions. There are a few local keys focusing on the Argentinean fauna, and for Central America and southeast Brazil. In the Neotropics, the incomplete knowledge of the full life history, associated with the lack of descriptions and keys to a local fauna often prevent species identifications. Additionally, it is customary to overlook the Chironomidae in favor of groups, such as Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera, which are more limited in number and diversity, and more easily identified. For this assessment, we recognize nine families, with known larvae, occurring in the Neotropical Region. In total, 144 genera were included in the key. The subfamily Chironominae is prevalent with 55 genera (38.2 %) followed by the Orthocladiinae and Tanypodinae with 50 (34.7 %) and 23 (16.0 %) genera, respectively. The balance of 16 (11.1 %) genera represent the six remaining subfamilies (Aphroteniinae, Buchonomyiinae, Diamesinae, Podonominae, Prodiamesinae and Telmatogetoninae). The Antarctic fauna is represented by only three species of Chironomidae: the orthoclads Belgica antarctica Jacobs and Eretmoptera murphyi Schaeffer and the podonomine Parochlus steinenii (Gerke). Regarding the Neotropics, the endemicity of chironomids is difficult to evaluate at present. Although, many genera and species have been found only in the region, their full geographical range is not known. The present work provides updated information on the larval chironomid fauna in the Neotropical and Antarctic regions and will hopefully encourage further studies in the area.