Table Of ContentBIOSYSTEMATIC STUDIES OF INDIAN CHIRONOMIDAE (DIPTERA
)1
GirishMaheshwari2andGeetaMaheshwari3
(With three text-figures)
Key words: Biosystematics, Chironomidae, India.
The taxonomy ofIndian Chironomidae attracted attention in the beginning ofthis century, but
theirbiosystematics still requiresattention by Indian dipterologists. Thepresent study highlights
some significant factors that require special attention in India, viz. (i) role ofChironomidae in
determining water quality and typology of lakes (ii) demography, population dynamics and
distribution, (iii) chironomid behaviour and (iv) phylogenetic relationship.
Introduction colour patterns and relative sizes of the body
parts, particularly of the females. Edwards
TheChironomidae,afamilyofamphibiotic (1969), Tokunaga (1959), Singh (1958), Singh
insects, have been recognized as bioindicators and Kulshrestha (1975 and 1977), Singh and
of water quality. Perhaps no other freshwater Maheshwari (1986-1989), Kaul (1970),
amphibiotic insects are more ubiquitous, Chaudhuri and Ghosh (1981, 1982) Chaudhuri
inhabiting almost all the ecological niches from and Sinharay (1983) and Maheshwari (1986-
high altitude glacial torrents to deep eutrophic 1990) contributed to literature on Indian
lakesandseas. Thelarvae(bloodworms)ofsome Chironomidfauna. Singh(1958)recordedforthe
Chironomidae form an important constituent of first time high altitude Chironomidae above the
the biological filter fauna in settling tanks and timber-line in the Northwest Himalaya. His
filter beds in urban water works. record ofthe genus Brillia Kieffer remains the
Chironomid species and population solitary example of this Holarctic genus from
composition and its temporal changes reflect India. Kaul (1970) described two species ofthe
sediment quality. They also play an important torrenticole Diamesinae from the same region.
roleinthecirculationandenergy flowofaquatic Singh and Kulshrestha (1977) described some
ecosystems. Investigationsontheroleofdetritus- Chironomidae of the Indogangetic plains.
feedingbenthicchironomidgroupsenablesbetter Chaudhuri and Ghosh (1981, 1982) described a
understanding of natural purification and new genus Neopodonomus from Bhutan, and
oligotrophication of water bodies. Since some Orthocladiinae and Chironommi from
numerousfishspecies, suchasruff, carpandeel, eastern India. Chaudhuri and Sinharay (1983)
feed on chironomid larvae, these investigations addedthreenewspeciesofgenusRheocricotopus
can help in fishery development in India. Thien. and Hamisch to the Indian fauna from
Systematics Darjeeling and Shillong. Singh andMaheshwari
(1987-89) described the Chironomidae of
ThemajorworkinIndiacamefromKieffer Chandertal Lake (4270 m above msl), Lahaul
(1910-1914), who studied the Chironomidae in SpitiValley, NorthwestHimalaya,withfivenew
the Indian Museum, Calcutta, based mainly on species ofMicropsectra and three new species
of Corynoneura Winn. Maheshwari (1986-95)
'AcceptedFebruary, 1996
describedtheChironomidaefromGangeticplain,
’SchoolofEntomology,St.John’sCollege,
Agra-282002,India coastal parts and high altitude regions. He also
’DepartmentofZoology,B.S.A.College,Mathura,India. made a faunal assessment of settling tanks of
74 JOURNAL BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(1) APR. 1999
BIOSYSTEMATICS OFINDIAN CHIRONOMIDAE
the Civil Water Supply System, Agra, India. be furtherdivided into two phylogenetic groups
Maheshwari and Agarwal (1993) studied the of subfamilies namely Tanypodinae and
Harnischia complex from India. Podonominae. The second group constitutes
FaunalcompositionofIndianChironomidae Diamesinae, Orthocladiinae and Chironominae.
Ecology
B
Chironomini
H Tanytarsini No consistent work has been done on the
H Clidotanypodini ecology of Indian Chironomidae so far. Singh
and Maheshwari (1987 a & b) reported that
PI Tanypodini
O Chandertal(4,270 m. abovemsl), inthe Lahaul-
Pentaneurini SpitiValleyhasachironomidcommunityoffive
^
Macropelopini species, of Micropsectra one species of
^ Orthocladiinae MetriocnemusandthreeofCo;rynoneura. Onthe
HI Diamesini basis of their swarming behaviour, genera can
be differentiated: Micropsectra spp. swarmover
Podonomini
greenvegetationwhileMetriocnemus spp. do so
HI Protanypodini
over stones and boulders. Corynoneura gyrates
onthesurfaceoflakewaterafteremergence and
each species ofCorynoneura exhibits a specific
pattern ofgyration. Maheshwari (1992) studied
Chironomidae as indicators oflake typology of
Fml NorthwestHimalayaandcategorizedhighaltitude
Fig. 1: Percentage analysis ofspecies of lakes into subgroups. A key forthe classification
Chironomidae from Indian limits ofhighaltitude lakes is givenbelow:
Thematerialwecollectedrepresentedfive
subfamilies: Orthocladiinae, Tanypodinae, Key tothetypes of lakes on the basisof
chironomidfauna
Podonominae, Diamesinae and Chironominae,
covering thirty-nine genera and 94 species. The
majoritywereOrthocladiinaeandChironominae 1. Paracladopelma and Tanypodinae present
Eutrophic lakes (Nanakmata)
with 44.09% and 43.01% respectively, while Above absent 2
Tanypodinae, Diamesinae and Podonominae 2. Heterotrissocladius, Stictochironomus and
were represented by 9.68%, 2.15% and 1.08% Phaenopsectra present Mesotrophic lakes
respectively. (Bhimtal, Sattal, Naukuchia Tal, Nainital)
Micropsectra, Corynoneura, Diamesa,
Phylogeny of Chironomidae (Fig. 2) Pseudodiamesa and Metriocnemus present
Goetghebuer (1914) evaluated the Oligotrophic lakes 3
phylogeneticrelationshipsofChironomidae. But 3. CorynoneuraandMicropsectra( Notocenegp.).
present.... zeta-Oligotrophic (Chandertal lake)
except forhis conclusion that the Chironominae Corynoneura spp. absent 4
were derived from the Orthocladiinae, most of 4. Micropsectra himachali, Diamesa dashauhari
hisresultshavebeenfounduntenable. Ourstudy and Pseudodiamesa present
reveals that the subfamily Telmatogetoninae alpha oligotrophic (Dashauhar lake)
belongs to a group with five other subfamilies Micropsectra himachali present. Diamesa
viz. Podonominae, Tanypodinae, Diamesinae, and Pseudodiamesa spp. absent
Orthocladiinae, and Chironominae. These can beta-oligotrophic...(Suraj Tal)
JOURNAL BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(1), APR. 1999 75
,
BIOSYSTEMATICS OFINDIAN CHIRONOMIDAE
Ceratopogonidae
group
out
Fig. 2: Scheme ofargumentation delineating the cladogenesis ofthe subfamilies ofChironomidae by means
oftrends 1-22.
76 JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 96(1) APR. 1999
BIOSYSTEMATICS OFINDIAN CHIRONOMIDAE
Trends used in the cladistic analysis are being Trend 19 Tergite IX offemale undivided, large,
given hereunder (a = apomorphous; p = plesio- hood shaped (p); tergite IX divided into two
morphous) setigerous protrusions. If undivided,
Trend 1 Notum absent (a); notum present (p) Tresnhdor2t0enMeadl(ea).gonostylus posteriorly directed
Trend 2 Anal point present (a); anal point
(a); anteriorly directed (p).
Treabnsden3tG(opn)ostylus male short and ovoid (a) TreXnd21 SegmentXofmaleabsent(a); segment
male gonostylus long, tapering distally (p). Trendpre1s2enNto(tpu).m of female long (a); Notum
Trend 4 Tergite VIII of female reduced (a);
relatively short (p).
Tergite VIII offemale well developed(p).
Trend 5 Gonocoxite IX of female reduced (a); As apparent fromthis key, the occurrence
Gonocoxite IXwell developed (p). of specific forms in a particular water body
Trend6FemaleLabiafused(a);Labiaseparated. indicate the character ofthe lake.
Trend 7 Seminal capsule absent, spermathecal The present study reveals that occurrence
ducts serve as seminal storage organ (a); ofChironomidae is relatedtothe availability of
Seminal capsulespresentandwell developed appropriate larval habitat.
The species of tribe Chironomini are
(p)-
Trend8 GonapophysisVIII offemaleverylong, thermophilic and adapted to standing water.
elongated (p); Gonapophysis VIII relatively Tribe Tanytarsini includes rheophilic and
short, single or divided (a) thermophilic species. Rheophilic species
Trend 9 Gonostylus IX of female present (p); represented by Micropsectra Tokunaga,
Gonostylus IX offemale absent(a). representedbysevenspecies, arerestrictedtothe
Trend 10 Gonostylus tooth,XandY-seta absent Himalayan Region. Micropsectra chanderi and
(p); either tooth orX and Y- setapresent (a). Micropsectra bifurcata are also adapted to
Trend 11 Aedeagal membrane present in.male torrential streams. The rest ofthe Micropsectra
(p); absent (a) species are found in the oligotrophic lakes of
Trend 12TergiteandstemiteIXofmalesegment Himachal Pradesh. Tanytarsus Wulp and
completely fused (a); Tergite and stemite IX Rheotanytarsus Bause are thermophilic and
notcompletely fused(p). lentic, while Stempellina Bause species are
Trend 13Gonocoxiteoffemalereducedandfused thermophilic and lotic. Polypedilum Kieffer
withtergiteIXtoformgonotergiteIX(a);both species are found in marshy places.
not fused (p). Tanypodinae is represented by tribes
Trend 14 One pair reduced volsella present (p); Clinotanypodini, Tanypodini, Macropelopiini
volsella 2-4 pairs and well developed (a). andPentaneurini,arethermophilc,withasolitary
Trend 15 Gonapophysis VIII of female not example ofrheophilic Macropelopia sp.
dividedinto 1-2lobes(p); GonapophysisVIII Orthocladiinae is a widely distributed
offemale divided into 2-3 lobes (a). group,inhabitingmarine,marshy, loticandlentic
Trend 16 Gonostylus toothpresent(a); absent(p) habitats in high altitude and low land water
Trend 17 Gonotergite IX narrow and reduced bodies. Symbiocladius Kieffer inhabits brackish
with very few setae (a); gonotergite hood- water, running, stagnant water of low land and
shaped with numerous setae (p). cold waterbodies ofKulu Valley. Corynoneura
Trend 18 FemalegonocoxapodemeVIIIweakly Winn, are restricted to the ultra-oligotrophic
developed(p); gonocoxapodemeVIII absent lakes of Lahaul-Spiti Valley of Himachal
(a). Pradesh. Cricotopus Wulp are thermophilic and
JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(1), APR. 1999 77
E
BJOSYSTEMATICS OF INDIAN CHIRONOMIDA
Table
1
DISTRIBUTIONOFINDIANCHIRONOMIDAEINRELATIONTOHABITATSANDWATERCONDITIONS
HABITATS
Marine Brackish FreshWater
Water Rheophilous Thermophilous
Lotic Lentic Lotic Lentic
Chironomus - - - - + +
Paratendipes - - - - + +
Omisus - - - + - +
Endochironomus - - - - - +
Polypedilum - + - - + +
Xenochironomus - - • - - + -
Microchironomus - + + - + +
Harnischia - - - - + +
Cladopelma - - - - + +
Parachironomus - - - - - +
Goeldichironomus - - - - - +
Glyptotendipes - + - - - +
Dicrotendipes - - - - + 4-
Leptochironomus - - - - - +
Micropsectra - - + + - -
Tanytarsus - - - - -
Rheotanytarsus - - - - - +
Stempellina - - - - + -
Clinotanypus - - - - + +
Tanypus - - - - + +
Macropelopia - - + - - -
Pentcineura - - - - + +
Ablabesmyia - - - + - -
Conchapelopia - - - - - +
Cricotopus - - - - - +
Smittia - - - + - +
Krenosmittia - - - - + -
Thalassosmittia + - - - - -
Clinoclcidius - - + - - -
Metriocnemus - - - + - -
Brillia - - + - - -
Euricnemus - - - + - -
Corynoneura - - - + - -
Abiskomyia - - + - - -
Paraphenocladius - - + - - -
Symbiocladius - - + + + -
Podonomus - - + - - -
Diamesa - - - + - -
Pseudodiamesa - - - + - -
Key:(+) present;(-) absent.
78 JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(1) APR. 1999
BIOSYSTEMATICS OFINDIAN CHIRONOMIDAE
lentic. Smittia Holmagren are adapted to Discussion
thermophilic and rheophilic conditions. Brillia
Kieffer and Euricnemus Wulp are the rarest Although great overlaps occur, especially
chironomids of India, inhabiting cold water in the lower mountain and low land categories,
bodies of Kulu and Lahaul Valley, Himachal there are distinct shifts in the Chironomidae
Pradesh. Paraphenocladius Thienemann is community with increasing height. Substrate
adapted for torrential streams. Among the type and available food influences chirononud
Orthocladiinae, Symbiocladius Kieffer occur as distribution as much as temperature. Most
external parasites on mayfly larvae. hypsobiont species have optimum temperature
Thalassosmittia is exclusively marine. neartheirminimumtolerancevalue,whereasthe
During the lasttenyears, the high altitude warmwaterspeciesoreurythermic specieshave
m
lakes Suraj Tal (4864 above msl), Chandertal awiderrangeoftolerance.Thecoldstenothermic
m
(4270 above msl), (Singh and Maheshwari species, were represented by Diamesa,
1987a&b)DashauharLake(4200mabovemsl), Pseudodiamesa and some Orthocladiinae, those
(Singh and Maheshwari 1989), Bhrighu Lake are restricted in ultra-oligotrophic lakes such as
m m
(4132 abovemsl),DeepakTal(4202 above Dashauhar(PirPanjalRange) andSuraj Tallake
msl) were explored and faual compositions of (Great Himalayan Range). Similarly,
each lake was found specific. Dashauhar lake Corynoneura spp. are only found in specific
shows domination ofDiamesci-Pseudodiamesci, niches ofChandertal Lake in Lahaul Valley. On
whereas Bhrighu, Chandertal and Suraj Tal are the other hand, Micropsectra are distributed
dominatedbyMicropsectraspecies.DeepakTal, throughouttheHimalayaandadaptedtoloticand
acomparativelysmalllake,sheltersafewspecies lentic water bodies. Algal grazers such as
ofOrthocladiinae (Maheshwari 1987). Diamesinae and a few Orthocladiinae can
dominate in glacial brooks and lakes. At the
AltitudinalDistribution
foothills, the shade of riparian vegetation
Chironomidae are abundant upto 5000 m diminishesalgalgrazerandincreasesscraperand
above msl. A reduction in diversity with collector species. This group comprises
Tanytarsini, some Chironomini and most
increasingaltitudeisobservedinChironomidae,
only 35-40 species occuring over 2000 m. The Orthocladiinae. In low landwaterbodies, due to
Chironominizoneranges0-400mabovemsland lowwatervelocityandhighamountofparticulate
supports 27 species with a single exception of organic matter, filter and deposit feeding
Glyptotendipes, whichwasfoundbetween 1800- RheotanytarsusandsomespeciesofChironomini
m predominate.
2000 above msl (Kulu to Rhala fall). The
m
Tanytarsini zone ranges from 0-5000 and
supports 14species.Micropsectra ahighaltitude Acknowledgements
,
groupofTanytarsini,isfounddistributedbetween
2000-5000mabovemslandrepresentedbyseven We thank Prof. G.M. Ram, former
species(KuluandLahaulvalley). Orthocladiinae Principal, St. John’s College, Agra forfacilities.
inhabits marine water (Andaman and Nicobar We also thank Dr. Ipe M. Ipe, Principal and Dr.
Islands), low land water bodies in the plains of Santokh Singh, former Head, School of
UttarPradesh, torrential streams andHimalayan Entomology, St. John’s College, Agra for
lakes(Chandertal, DeepakTalandBhrighu lake). encouragement and Prof. Ole Saether, Director,
Podonominae and Diamesinae are exclusively Museum of Zoology, University of Bergen,
hypsobiontandgenerally foundabove 2000m. Norway forhis comments.
JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(1), APR. 1999 79
AA E
BIOSYSTEMATICS OFINDIAN CHIRONOMIDA
(HEIGHT IN METRES)
o oo COOD hNOQsa>) hOooa) NOOOo ONoJOS COONDO CONOoo OCCOToi ooo O4OS COODUOOO)
CHIRONOMUS
PARATENDIPES 0 .
OMISUS 0
ENDOCHIRONOMUS 0 o
POLYPEDILUM l
?
XENOCHIRONOMUS O
MICROCHIRONOMUS 0
HARNISCHIA o
CLADOPELMA 0
PARACHIR0N0MU5 0
GOELDICHIRONONUS o0
GLYPT0TENDIPE5 oO
DICROTENDIPES 0o6e ©0
LEPTOCHIRONOMUS o
MICROPSECTRA 0 O o o o o o o O o o ooo o 0
TANYTAR5U5
°o°
RHEOTANYTARSUS o o
STEMPELLINA o o
CLINOTANYPUS %
TANYPUS opo© o
MACROPELOPIA o
PENTANEURA o
ABLABESNYIA 0
CONCHAPELOPIA 0
CRICOTOPUS 0 0
SMITTIA o 0 o
KRENOSMITTIA ©Oo0
THALASSOSMITTIA 0 o
BRY0PHAEN0CLADIU5 o©oo
METRIOCNEMUS
°o°
BRILLI 0 O
EURICNEMUS 0
CORYNONEURA o6o$
ABISCOMYIA 6
Q
PARAPHEN0CLADIU5 ©© 6*
SYMBIOCLADIUS V> o 00 oc
PODONOMUS 0 0
PROTANYPUS o o o
DIANE5 0 6
PSEUnODIAMF.SA O a
Fig. 3: Altitudinal distribution ofChironomidae
80 JOURNAL. BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY. 96(1) APR. 1999
E
BIOSYSTEMATICS OFINDIAN CHIRONOMIDA
ReferENCES
Chaudhuri, P.K. & D.C. Sinharay (1983): A study on ScienceSpectra 1(1): 131-137.
Orthocladiinae(Diptera:Chironomidae)ofIndia. Maheshwari, Girish (1989b): Redescription of two
The genus Rheocricotopus Thienemann and Chironomus spp. from India. (Diptera:
Harnisch.Ent. Bas, 8:298-407. Chironomidae).Acta. Biol.Debr. Oecol.Hung.,2:
Chaudhuri, P.K. & M. Ghosh (1981): Record of 253-264.
Chaetocladius Kieffer (Diptera: Chironomidae) Maheshwari, Girish (1990): Role of rice midges in
fromIndia.F. Ent. Hungarica. 1:5-7. agroecosystem of paddy and in pollination of
Chaudhuri,P.K.&M.Ghosh(1982):Orthocladidmidges floweringplants.ParticipantsseminarofInsect
ofgenus Orthocladius Vander Wulp (Diptera; PlantInteractionERI Madras: 14(Summary).
Chironomidae) from eastern Himalaya. Annals Maheshwari, Girish (1992): Behavioural ecology of
Zoologica. 36(25):491-500. Chironomidae(Diptera)fromnorthwestHimalaya.
Edwards,F.W.(1969):SomeChironomidae(Diptera)from DSTProjectreport(unpublished).
BerkudaIslands,ChilkaLake(India).Rec.Indian Maheshwari,Girish(1995):Somepeculiarbehaviourof
Mus. 34(2): 177-183. highaltitudeChironomidae. Chironomus(3): 13-
Goetghebuer, M. (1914): Contribution a l’etude des 14.
ChironomidesdeBelgique.AnnalsBiol.Lacustre Maheshwari, Girish & Geeta Agarwal (1993):
7:66-72. Taxonomy ofHamischia complexfromIndiawith
Kaul,B.K.(1970):TorrenticoleinsectsoftheHimalaya. ashort note on theirseasonaloccurrence. Comp.
II.TwonewDiamesini (Diptera:Chironomidae). Physiol. Ecol. 18(4): 169-175.
OrientalIns. 4(3):293-297. Singh, Santokh (1958): On a collection of nival
Kieffer,J.J.(1910):EtudesurlesChironomidesdes.ndex Chironomidae (Diptera) from the Northwest
Orientales.Mem. IndianMus. 2:181-242. Himalaya. Proc.Nat.Acad.Sci.(India),Allahabad
Kieffer,J.J.(1911):Chironomidae(IndianOcean).Trans. (B),28(2): 304-314.
Linn. Soc. London 14(2):315-366. Singh,Santokh&A.K.Kulshreshtha(1975):Threenew
Kieffer,J.J.(1911a): LesChironomidae(Tendipedidae) spp.ofTanytarsus. OrientalIns. 9(4):419-424.
de L’Himalayaetd’Assam. Rec. Indian Mus., 9: Singh, Santokh & A.K. Kulshrestha (1977):
118-197. Dicrotendipesrajasthamnov.sp.fromIndia.Ent.
Kiefer,J.J.(1914):QuelquesnouvauxdesChironomides Scand., 7(2): 155-158.
desIndex.Rec. IndianMus. 10: 313-315. Singh,Santokh&GirishMaheshwari(1987a):Swarming
Maheshwari,Girish(1986):BioecologyoftheChironomus ecologyofChironomidae(Diptera)ofhighaltitude
spp.foundinthefilterbedsofCivilWaterSupply lake Chandertal(NorthwestHimalaya).Ad. Bios.
System ofAgra. (Diptera: Chironomidae) Ph.D. 6(2): 179-186.
Thesis,AgraUniversity,Agra. Singh, Santokh & Girish Maheshwari (1987b):
Maheshwari,Girish(1987):AnewspeciesofTanytarsini Chironomidaeof Chandertal Lake, Northwest
from India (Diptera: Chironomidae). Entomon Himalaya (Diptera:Chironomidae).Annals. Ent.
12(2):207-210. 5(2): 11-20.
Maheshwari, Girish (1989): Mating Behaviour of Singh, Santokh & Girish Maheshwari (1989):
Chironomidae (Diptera). Proc. V. Indian Symp. Biosystematic Study ofDiamesa Meigen from
InvertebrateReproduction377-383. India.Acta.Biol. Debr. Oecol.Hung.,2:343-254.
Maheshwari,Girish(1989a):DistributionalPatternofhigh Tokunaga, M. (1959): A new midge from Kashmir
altitudeChironomidae(Diptera).St.John’sCollege, (Diptera:Tendipedidae)Akitu.8:21-24.
JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(1), APR. 1999 81
