Parochlus kiefferi (Garrett 1925)

Syrovátka, Vít & Langton, Peter H, 2015, First records of Lasiodiamesa gracilis (Kieffer, 1924), Parochlus kiefferi (Garrett, 1925) and several other Chironomidae from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, CHIRONOMUS Journal of Chironomidae Research 28 (28), pp. 45-56 : 46

Parochlus kiefferi (Garrett 1925)

On a cross-country skiing trip on 20 February 2015 in the Krkonoše Mountains National Park ( Giant Mts. ) VS collected a tuft of decomposing vegetation with mosses from a helocrene spring located just next to a ski-track ( Fig. 2 ). This spring is usually covered with snow in the winter, but due to the combination of lack of snowfall during the previous days, sunny weather and slope exposition to the south, it was uncommonly snow-free at that time. The inspection of the collected material back in the laboratory revealed one larva of Parochlus .

The identification of Parochlus larvae into species is not possible, but only a single species P. kiefferi is known from the northern hemisphere. Thus, the collected specimen most certainly belongs to this species.

P. kiefferi seems to be cold-stenothermic, living mostly in cold springs and upper courses of spring-fed streams ( Brundin 1966). It was also reported from large streams with strong current in North America ( Brundin 1966) or from moss in a pond fed by ice-melt water in Italian Alps ( Lencioni et al. 2007).

It is possible that the species emerges just after the snow melts and is no longer present at the locality, as was observed by Wülker (1958) in Feldberg springs. Such phenology would prevent the species from being recorded by conventional sampling, which is usually carried out in the vegetation season. It is worth noting, however, that in some regions the species emerges practically throughout the whole snow-free period: from the beginning of June to the beginning of October in Swedish mountains or from the end of April to the beginning of November in temperate Canada ( Brundin 1966). In the Italian Alps, Lencioni et al. (2007) recorded a pupal exuviae in the middle of September. Please see Table 1 for summarized information.

Figures

Figure 2. A spring close to Nová Klínovka chalet (in the background) in the eastern part of a meadow called Klínové Boudy, The Krkonoše Mountains National Park. Parochlus kiefferi sampling site (site nr. H11 in the List). Photographed during sampling 20 February 2015.