Aquatic Insects of Michigan

by Ethan Bright, Museum of Zoology Insect Division and School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan

Species Lists

Use the navigation menu to the left to access species lists for the desired insect taxon. Genera are denoted in green; species denoted in bold blue have been recorded in Michigan; other species denoted in black bold are likely to occur based on their known distribution. You can use the Find function in your web browser to locate families, genera, and species. Synonomous species (indented) are listed below the current valid species (denoted in bold) with its taxonomic status indicated.

Chironomidae, Subfamily Chironominae
Axarus Roback, 1980 (Tribe Chironomini)
Axarus festivus(Say, 1823) Chironomus - UMMZ-Insect Division
(syn.) Chironomus lineatus Say, 1823
(syn.) Chironomus lineola Say, 1823, emend. Wiedemann, 1828
(syn.) Chironomus lasiomerus Walker, 1848
Axarus scopula (Townes, 1945) Xenochironomus - Townes 1945
Axarus taenionotus (Say, 1823) Chironomus - Oliver et al. 1990

Lists are arranged in an indented alphabetic and taxonomic arrangement. Higher taxonomic names (e.g. Chironomini, a tribe in the subfamily Chironominae, which itself is a subfamily of the dipteran family Chironomidae) are placed first, followed by the genus plus the author and date of description (e.g., Axarus Roback, 1980). Species' names then follow, indicated by italicized binominals plus author and description date and synonomy, e.g., Axarus festivus (Say, 1823) Chironomus. This means that (Thomas) Say, in 1823, published the first descripton of a species that he named Chironomus festivus, which subsequently has been placed in the genus Axarus that was created by (Selwyn) Roback in 1980. Synonomyzed species are also included (i.e., subsequently shown not to be specifically distinct), which follow the species' name and are indented and bulleted (e.g.,(syn.)Chironomus lineatus Say, 1823). This is included to provide the most current taxonomic name for people accessing older literature and museum records and specimens that often have an older taxonomic name. Invalid names due to spelling differences are not included, most often in order to keep list lengths reasonable. Entire lists of invalid names as well as the history behind the development of the taxonomic/systematic arrangements can often be found in the references in this project. Most orders also a page that includes all the species on one list, but does not include synonomy information to reduce file size.

As mentioned in the introduction, Michigan collection site locality information will be displayed using GIS-generated maps. This is a slow process requiring: 1) literature and collection search and verification; 2) converting locality information into a lat-long format that GIS software can translate into a locality coordinate (for which precision and accuracy issues must be considered against the abilities of current web-display capabilities); 3) converting this information into a database structure so that GIS software use the information; 4) generating maps and shape-files; and 5) converting generating maps into a format (usually jpeg) that ensures fast internet download times. Having distribution maps appear requires simply clicking on the species name, which will also be displayed in hyperlink blue.

As mentioned in the introduction, not all species lists have been begun or completed. Below is a table indicating the relative state of completeness (in terms of listing and map listing, not necessarily in terms of sampling completeness in our state!) for each order.

Last reviewed: December 30, 2013 (EB)