Welcome!

This is your place for finding researchers, news, and other resources regarding Chironomidae, or non-biting midges. This site continues to undergo changes in organization in order to make this site more useful and accessible. The webmaster would appreciate receiving any suggestions for further improving this site. Your participation is crucial - this is your community, and your resource.

With this in mind, several requests. Please let the webmaster know of anyone who should be removed from the worker directory, or have had their directory information (e.g., addresses, contact information, interests) changed. Second, please provide information regarding meetings, conferences, and research projects involving Chironomidae. Finally, to enhance the visual appeal and communicate to others what we do, it would be greatly appreciated if you can submit photographs of midges of all life stages for inclusion in the Home Page. Proper credit, citation and copyright protection will, of course, be given. (Image upper right of a male Tanytarsus gracilentus (Holmgren, 1883) - © 2004, Torbjørn Ekrem, used with permission; image to the left is Chironomus anthracinus Zetterstedt, 1860, from Lake Esrum, Denmark, in late April - © 2004, Klaus Brodersen, used with permission).

What's new?

Below are links of events and meetings, newsletters, important publications, research web sites and other recent items of interest to the Chironomid community. If you know of something that would interest the chironomid researcher, please let the webmaster know about it so that it can be included. [Image right is a male of Gymnometriocnemus brumalis taken on 20 January 2004 in East Sussex, UK (© 2004, Patrick Roper, used with permission). "We were felling some trees on a fairly cold winter's day and many of these insects (which are common here in the colder months) landed on the cut stumps as soon as the trees were down."]

• Hanno Schmidt and a team of molecular biologists wish to work with populations of Chironomus riparius and C. piger. See Request for Help and Information on how to help them out.
• The 17th International Chironomid Symposium has concluded. Details about the meeting in Tianjin, China will be forthcoming. (added August 2009)
• Tadashi Kobayashi has announced that digital images of (slide-mounted) chironomid type specimens of Sasa collection in the National Museum of Nature and Science (Tokyo, Japan) can be viewed at http://www.type.kahaku.go.jp/TypeDB/. All of the specific names are given by original. The specimen search engine is straight-forward and easy-to-use. (added April 2009)
• Torbjørn Ekrem and Elisabeth Stur have recently revised the genus Zavrelia (Diptera: Chironomidae, Chironominae, Tanytarsini), which you can download free of charge. (added February 2009)
• All of the articles submitted for publication in the Proceeding of the 16th International Chironomid Symposium Boletim do Museu Municipal do Funchal are now available in electronic format at the symposium website. (Note: click on the "+" sign to activate the javascript that displays the listing of articles). (added January 2009)
• A number Ole Sæther's papers are now freely downloadable from his bibliography page. (added January 2009)
  
• William Bouchard and Len Ferrington have published a (free!) PDF key to the pupal exuviae of the western lakes of Mongolia. (added August 2008)
• Rick Jacobsen has published a (free!) PDF key to the pupal exuviae of the Everglades, in Florida, USA. (added August 2008)
• New chironomid species checklist for Mongolia has been compiled by Barbara Hayford (Added July 2008)
• Older information and links (pre-July 2008)

Last updated: Sunday, 29-Nov-2009 (EB)