BIOMETRY AND LIFE CYCLE OF Chironomus calligraphus Goeldi 1905 (Diptera, Chironomidae) in laboratory conditions.

ZILLI, F.L.; MONTALTO, L.; PAGGI, A. C.; MARCHESE, M. R.

Interciencia

Interciencia

Lugar: Caracas; Año: 2008 vol. 33 p. 767 - 770

Chironomid larvae are important components of aquatic biota, due to their abundance and participation in food webs, and because they are considered environmental bioindicators. Many laboratory studies have analyzed the effects of pollutants on chironomids, especially on Chironomus calligraphus Goeldi, 1905. However, little is known about the life cycle attributes of Chironomidae (Diptera). The main pourpose of this study was to analyze C. calligraphus life cycle under laboratory conditions. The growth rate was almost constant between larval instars (r= 1.60 ±0.02), the immature development time (D) was 15 days and the minimum generation time (G) was 18 days. According to these results and field observations C. calligraphus has a temperature-dependent life cycle, with several overlapped short duration cohorts in spring-summer followed by one or two generations of longer duration in winter.