Diplocladius Kieffer, 1908

Namayandeh, Armin, Hudson, Patrick L., Bogan, Daniel L. & Hudson, John P., 2024, Chironomidae (Diptera: Insecta) of Alaska, USA, with descriptions of new species and a checklist, Zootaxa 5511 (1), pp. 1-95 : 58

Diplocladius Kieffer, 1908

Diplocladius cultriger Kieffer, 1908 is a monotypic species found throughout the Holarctic, although Saether (1982) has suggested there may be several undescribed species. Larval specimens have been collected from second and third-order streams including the Kuskokwim River ( Hayford et al. 2014) and streams in Denali National Park ( Brabets & Ourso 2013). Our adult collections come from Steep Creek, a second-order stream, and the Antler River in the Juneau area. Our larval records come from tributaries to the Mulchatna, Stuyahok, and South Fork Koktuli Rivers in Southwest Alaska, the Taku River and a tributary to the Salmon River near Gustavus in Southeast Alaska, and a tributary to the Yukon River in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.

In Michigan, this species is one of the first chironomids to emerge in the spring, typically in early March (P.L. Hudson and A. Namayandeh’s personal observations). Oliver & Dillon (1997) found adults walking on snow in late winter and early spring. P. L. Hudson has observed that in Alaska, D. cultriger has two generations emerging in mid-May and mid-September, although Oliver & Dillon (1997) suggested that the species is univoltine.