Chaoboridae

Female Chaoborus flavicans, copyright Erick Adams.

Belongs within: Culicomorpha.

The Chaoboridae, phantom midges, are a cosmopolitan group of small, delicate flies with aquatic larvae found in standing freshwater habitats. The Nearctic Eucorethra underwoodi possesses a long clypeus, nearly as long as the rest of the head capsule, whereas the clypeus is shorter in the remaining Chaoborinae (Cook 1981).

Characters (from Cook 1981, as Chaoborinae): Clypeus with numerous setae, shorter than two-thirds height of rest of head capsule. Lateral lobes of postpronotum separated medially by scutum and antepronotum. R₁ terminating in C near wing apex, nearer to R₂ than Sc. Larva with thorax rounded laterally; anal segment with longitudinal fan-like row of bristles; siphon absent or as long as anal segment, with pointed apex.

<==Chaoboridae [Chironomapteridae, Mesotendipedidae] B09
    |--Eucorethra [Eucorethrinae] C81
    |    `--E. underwoodi C81
    `--Chaoborinae C81
         |--Mochlonyx Loew 1844 C81, H02
         |    `--M. cinctipes C81
         `--Chaoborus Lichtenstein 1800 H02
              |--C. (Chaoborus) americanus C81
              |--C. braziliensis B09
              |--C. edulis P09
              |--C. exita C81
              |--C. festivus B09
              |--C. flavicans WP99
              |--C. flavidulus O98
              |--C. indicus O98
              |--C. magnificus B09
              |--C. (Sayomyia) punctipennis C81
              |--C. queenslandensis O98
              |--C. souzai B09
              |--C. tertiarius C81
              `--C. trivittatus B09

Chaoboridae incertae sedis:
  Hypsocorethra Kalugina 1985 H02
    `--H. toficola BLM02
  Chachotosha probatus BLM02
  Mesocorethra S02
  Baleiomyia S02
  Manlayamyia litorina S02
  Astrocorethra gurvanica S02
  Praechaoborus Kalugina 1985 H02
    `--P. tugnuicus Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev 1985 RJ93
  Promochlonyx CM91
  Australomochlonyx CM91
  Chironomaptera BLM02
    |--C. collessi S02
    `--C. gregaria Grabau 1923 ZG05
  Eochaoborites Hong 2002 H02
    `--*E. xui Hong 2002 H02
  Iyaiyai Evenhuis 1994 (see below for synonymy) H02
    `--I. gracilis (Hong 1981) [=Trichia gracilis, *Fushunotrichia gracilis] H02
  Eucorethrina Kalugina 1985 H02
  Helokrenia Kalugina 1985 H02
  Chaoborites Kalugina 1985 H02
  Corethra Scudder 1877 H02
    `--C. plumicornis [=Chironomus (Corethra) plumicornis] G20

Iyaiyai Evenhuis 1994 [incl. Fushunotrichia Hong 2002, Trichia Hong 1981 nec Haller 1768 nec de Haan 1839 nec Hartmann 1840] H02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BLM02] Blagoderov, V. A., E. D. Lukashevich & M. B. Mostovski. 2002. Order Diptera Linné, 1758. The true flies (=Muscida Laicharting, 1781). In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 227–240. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[B09] Borkent, A. 2009. Chaoboridae (phantom midges). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 1 pp. 365–367. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[CM91] Colless, D. H., & D. K. McAlpine. 1991. Diptera (flies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 717–786. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[C81] Cook, E. F. 1981. Chaoboridae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 335–339. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[H02] Hong Y. 2002. Amber Insect of China. Beijing Scientific and Technological Publishing House.

[O98] Oosterbroek, P. 1998. The Families of Diptera of the Malay Archipelago. Brill: Leiden.

[P09] Pape, T. 2009. Economic importance of Diptera. In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 1 pp. 65–77. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[S02] Sinitshenkova, N. D. 2002. Ecological history of the aquatic insects. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 388–426. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[WP99] Walter, D. E., & H. C. Proctor. 1999. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

[ZG05] Zhang, J., V. B. Golub, Y. A. Popov & D. E. Shcherbakov. 2005. Ignotingidae fam. nov. (Insecta: Heteroptera: Tingoidea), the earliest lace bugs from the Upper Mesozoic of eastern China. Cretaceous Research 26: 783–792.

Last updated: 27 December 2020.