Superfamily of flies
TheChironomoidea are asuperfamily within theorder Diptera ,suborder Nematocera ,infraorder Culicomorpha . This superfamily contains thefamilies Chironomidae ,Ceratopogonidae ,Simuliidae , andThaumaleidae .[ 1] [ 2]
Chironomoidea have four life stages: the egg, the worm-like larva, the pupa and the winged adult.[ 3] [ 4]
Chironomoidea show a range of habitats and diets. Using the family Chironomidae as an example, larvae occur most commonly in aquatic vegetation andbenthic debris, but also in sand covered in fine organic material, pools on granite outcrops, woodsnags , muddy lake beds and hygropetric seepages. Pupae may occur near the surface of water, in submerged substrata or amongst benthic debris. Larvae may feed on deposits of organicdetritus (gathering collectors), filterdiatoms and fine particles of detritus from the water column (filtering collectors), chew or bore into live or dead plant matter (shredders), scrape algae, bacteria and diatoms from surfaces (scrapers) or prey on other invertebrates (predators).[ 4]
Adults generally feed on sugar-rich substances such asnectar .[ 3] [ 5] [ 3] [ 6]
The phylogeny of the Chironomoidea is disputed. Analyses of the male genital tract,[ 7] ribosomal RNA [ 8] transcriptome [ 9] monophyletic .
A fossil chironomoid larva of the genusAnisinodus (family unknown) indicates that the superfamily existed during the earlyMiddle Triassic .[ 10]
^ Yeates, D. K.; Wiegmann, B. M. (1999)."CONGRUENCE AND CONTROVERSY: Toward a Higher-Level Phylogeny of Diptera" .Annual Review of Entomology .44 (1):397– 428.doi :10.1146/annurev.ento.44.1.397 .ISSN 0066-4170 .PMID 15012378 . ^ "Chironomoidea" .www.bioimages.org.uk . Retrieved2022-08-15 .^a b c "biting midges, no-see-ums, Culicoides spp" .entnemdept.ufl.edu . Retrieved2022-08-15 .^a b "Identification and Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates" .www.mdfrc.org.au . Retrieved2022-08-15 .^ Burtt, E. T.; Perry, R. J. O.; McLachlan, A. J. (1986)."Feeding and sexual dimorphism in adult midges (Diptera: Chironomidae)" .Ecography .9 (1):27– 32.doi :10.1111/j.1600-0587.1986.tb01188.x .ISSN 0906-7590 . ^ Adler, Peter H. (2022),"Blackflies (Simuliidae)" ,Encyclopedia of Infection and Immunity , Elsevier, pp. 874– 885,doi :10.1016/b978-0-12-818731-9.00006-9 ,ISBN 978-0-323-90303-5 S2CID 243524346 , retrieved2022-08-15 ^ Sinclair, Bradley J.; Borkent, Art; Wood, D. Monty (2007)."The male genital tract and aedeagal components of the Diptera with a discussion of their phylogenetic significance" .Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society .150 (4):711– 742.doi :10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00314.x ISSN 1096-3642 . ^ Pawlowski, Jan; Szadziewski, Ryszard; Kmieciak, Dariusz; Fahrni, José; Bittar, Gabriel (1996)."Phylogeny of the infraorder Culicomorpha (Diptera: Nematocera) based on 28S RNA gene sequences" .Systematic Entomology .21 (2):167– 178.doi :10.1046/j.1365-3113.1996.d01-5.x .S2CID 86595848 . ^ Narayanan Kutty, Sujatha; Wong, Wing Hing; Meusemann, Karen; Meier, Rudolf; Cranston, Peter S. (2018)."A phylogenomic analysis of Culicomorpha (Diptera) resolves the relationships among the eight constituent families: Phylogenomic analysis of Culicomorpha" .Systematic Entomology .43 (3):434– 446.doi :10.1111/syen.12285 S2CID 90255287 . ^ Lukashevich, Elena D.; Przhiboro, Andrey A.; Marchal-Papier, Francine; Grauvogel-Stamm, Lea (2010)."The oldest occurrence of immature Diptera (Insecta), Middle Triassic, France" .Annales de la Société entomologique de France . Nouvelle Série.46 (1– 2):4– 22.doi :10.1080/00379271.2010.10697636 ISSN 0037-9271 .S2CID 86029875 .
