Demicryptochironomus vulneratus (Zetterstedt, 1838)

Özkan, Nurcan & Akiska, Seyhan, 2017, A new larval record of Demicryptochironomus Lenz, 1941 (Diptera, Chironomidae) for the Turkish fauna, Turkish Journal of Zoology 41 (1), pp. 181-184 : 182

Demicryptochironomus vulneratus (Zetterstedt, 1838) ( Figures 1a–1h )

Head capsule: According to the body has a relatively small and light brown head capsule ( Figure 1a ).

Labrum: SI slender, seta-like; SII very long, bladelike, more than 2× as long as SI, SIII very small, seta-like; SIVa long, 3-segmented, with SIVb a separate peg. No chaetae. Labral lamellae absent. Pecten epipharyngis a serrate triangular scale divided into 3 lobes. Premandible with 4 strong teeth, brush absent.

Labrum palp with 3 pieces (lobed) ( Figure 1b ).

Antenna: The antennae have 7 articulations. The sixth and the seventh segments are very small and hardly distinguishable. The Ring organ is located on the upper part of the middle of the first antenna’s articulation. The antennal blade is derived from the articulation of the third antenna. Long blade arises on apex of segment 2, reaching subapex of flagellum, accessory blade absent. Lauterborn organs absent. Style on apex of 5th segment. Antennal seta absent ( Figure 1c ).

Maxillary palp: Maxillary palpus with a similar length in comparison with the articulation of the first antenna. The Ring organ is closer to the base ( Figure 1d ).

Mentum: Mentum with single numbers of teeth. The median tooth is wide and has a pale color. Seven lateral teeth are light brown. The lateral teeth of the mentum are strongly curved towards the median tooth. The paralabial plates extending to the lateral parts of the head capsule are wide and long and have grooves on them ( Figures 1e and 1h ).

Mandible: Its general coloration is yellowish light brown. With a long and slender apical tooth, and with 2 lighter brown-colored and sharp lateral teeth. Seta interna reduced to 2 lamellae. Pecten mandibularis comprising one broad lamella, the rest narrower ( Figures 1f and 1h ).

Last abdominal segments: The back feet located on the last segment of the body are not so long. There are fewer than 4 feet from the rear gills. The anal setae are derived from a base with a normal length ( Figure 1g ). General body coloration red and body slightly curved. The length of larvae varied from 9 to 12 mm.

Habitat: The Garzan Brook has clean and fast-flowing water. The river bed is sandy and occupied by big stones. The Tigris River’s structure is similar to that of Garzan Brook. Additionally, plants can be observed on the base of the river edge. D. vulneratus lives in the sublittoral zones of both lakes and rivers ( Chernovskii, 1961). It is predatory, especially on oligochaetes.

The family Chironomidae Newman 1834 is a large taxon of insects; some estimates of the species numbers suggest well over 10,000 worldwide ( Armitage et al., 1995). The family is divided into 11 subfamilies: Aphroteniinae , Buchonomyiinae , Chilenomyinae, Chironominae , Diamesinae , Orthocladiinae, Podonominae , Prodiamesinae , Tanypodinae , Telmatogetoninae , and Usambaromyiinae ( Armitage et al., 1995; Epler, 2001). Most species belong to Chironominae , Orthocladiinae, and Tanypodinae . Diamesinae , Podonominae , Prodiamesinae , and Telmatogetoninae are medium-sized subfamilies with tens to hundreds of species. Demicryptochironomus is one of the 40 genera belonging to the subfamily Chironominae . Thirty-five species belonging to the genus Demicryptochironomus were described and Demicryptochironomus vulneratus among them is a widely distributed taxon. The world distribution of Demicryptochironomus vulneratus is as follows: Sweden, Serbia ( Milo šević, 2011), the Netherlands, Germany, China ( Yan, 2005), the United States, Norway, Brazil, Ireland, Finland, Romania, Italy ( Rossaro et al., 2006), Bulgaria ( Stoichev, 1996), and India ( Dutta et al., 1996).

Figures

Figure 1. Demicryptochironomus vulneratus Zetterstedt, 1838: a) head capsule; b) labrum palp; c) antenna; d) maxillary palp; e) paralabial plates; f) mandible; g) last abdominal segments; h) mentum, mandible.