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Chironomus magnivalva

Chironomus Midge

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Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult male with forelegs raised	64KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Chironomus Midge

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: RANGE ? - New Caledonia - ? - Tokelau - n.Cooks - ?

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native?; S.Group - unknown; N.Group (PK, ?); Land

KEY FEATURES: Small long-legged insect, to 5mmBL. Variously brown and dark brown, with clear unmarked wings. Holds forelegs high and forward like long antennae. Antennae very short with short hairs on male and long hairs on female. At night they often gather in large numbers near exterior lights.

Enlarged Image of 'Chironomus magnivalva'

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			++++

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Chironomus magnivalva Kief
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA; PTERYGOTA; Diptera; CHIRONOMIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: A mosquito-sized insect, to 5mmBL. HEAD with eyes large and antennae very short in male, and longer with longer hairs in female. THORAX brown patches outlined cream; WINGS transparent, without markings, cover most of abdomen. LEGS long and light brown with most joint dark; forelegs held up and forward like long antennae.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: c.30 specimens, Motu Ko and Motu Kotawa, 1-3/March/1924, in BPBM, Det. Jon Martin 1974 as Chironomus magnivalva (one specimen was dismembered and studied under coverslips), Martin also included the Bryan specimens from Phoenix and Tokelau as this species; 3 male specimens+photo, PK10, 2/2004, at light in great numbers, G.McCormack with ID as same or near Chironomus magnivalva GMcC. 5/2004 - 2004 specimens had conspicuous dark tiger-stripes on the hind dorsolateral part of the thorax which were lacking in the earlier specimens.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB04a, zM04a, zD04a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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