Stempellinella Brundin, 1947

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 : 84

Stempellinella Brundin, 1947

We collected Stempellinella edwardsi Spies & Saether, 2004 larvae from Cottonwood Creek, a tributary to Alexander Creek, Little Meadow Creek, and a larva and pupa in mid-June from Meadow Creek in the Mat-Su Valley. O’Brien et al. (1997) reported an adult male of this species from Toolik Lake as Stempellina minor (Edwards,1929) . In early August, we collected Stempellinella fimbriata Erkem 2007 adult males from around Deadman Lake, Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. Bowser et al. (2020) collected E. fimbriata larvae from the Miller Creek watershed on the Kenai Peninsula. We collected the pupae, an adult male and female of Stempellinella depilisa Guo & Waag, 2007 from Otter Creek near Anchorage in late August ( Fig. 11K–M ). This represents a new faunistic record for the Nearctic. We have collected Stempellinella larvae from tributaries of the Stuyahok and South Fork Koktuli Rivers and Steambath Creek in southwestern Central Alaska, as well as streams in the Arctic Coastal Plain ( Arctos 2023). We have numerous previously unpublished larval collections from Southwestern, Southcoastal, Central, and Southeastern bioregions streams and lakes. Kaufman et al. (2012) reported on Stempellinella / Zavrelia larvae from Lone Spruce Pond. The larvae of Stempellinella inhabit springs, small streams, and lakes where they build straight transportable cases of fine sand, silt, and detritus ( Epler et al. 2013).

Figures

FIGURE 11. The new Nearctic faunistic records of Alaskan Chironomidae II; Parorthocladius lazovskiensis Makarchenko & Makarchenko, 2015 male (A); Stilocladius kurobekeyakia (Sasa and Okazawa, 1992) male (B–C); Thienemanniella acuticornis (Kieffer, 1912) larva (D–F); Thienemanniella chuzeduodecima Sasa, 1984 male (H–I); Chironomus sp. 5X male (J); Stempellinella depilisa Guo & Wang, 2007 male (K–M). A. hypopygium. B. hypopygium. C. wing. D. abdominal segments. E. antenna. F. mentum. G. posterior parapod subbasal setae. H. antenna. I. hypopygium. J. hypopygium. K. hypopygium. L. anal point. M. wing. Scale bars are 50 µm.