Dicrotendipes Kieffer, 1913

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 : 78

Dicrotendipes Kieffer, 1913

Three species of Dicrotendipes are known from Alaska. Butler et al. (1980) reported Dicrotendipes lobiger (Kieffer, 1921) from tundra ponds. We collected Dicrotendipes modestus (Say, 1823) larvae from Auke Lake, 24 other lakes in the Southeastern bioregion, a small lake in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, and Desper Creek in Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. We collected the adults of this species from Twin Lakes near Juneau in mid-July. Based on molecular data, Bowser et al. (2020) identified this species from the Slikok Creek watershed in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We collected larvae of Dicrotendipes tritomus Kieffer, 1916 from uplift ponds downstream from the Sheridan Glacier and Desper Creek in Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, a new faunistic record for Alaska. Oliver et al. (1990) listed Dicrotendipes nervosus (Staeger, 1839) from Alaska but provided no source or location for the record. We have collected Dicrotendipes larvae from Twin Lakes in Juneau and in Scottie Creek in Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. Other records for the genus include larvae collected from lakes and streams along the Arctic Coastal Plain (AWQMS 2005), Lone Spruce Pond ( Kaufman et al. 2012), the Kuskokwin River ( Hayford et al. 2014), and tundra ponds ( Lougheed et al. 2011).

Epler (2001) noted that Dicrotendipes larvae inhabit pristine and degraded lotic and lentic brackish and freshwaters. The larvae are found in sediments but are most often associated with vegetation. Larvae of some species inhabiting cold freshwaters in the Arctic produce overwintering cocoons ( Tokeshi 1995).