Pontomyia, SP.

Huang, Danwei & Cheng, Lanna, 2011, The flightless marine midge Pontomyia (Diptera: Chironomidae): ecology, distribution, and molecular phylogeny, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162 (2), pp. 443-456 : 446

PONTOMYIA SP.

Belize: Carrie Bow Cay , 16°48 ′ N, 88°05 ′ W, females, larvae, pupal skins ( Bretschko, 1982) .

Brazil: Atol das Rocas, Rio Grande do Norte, 03°52 ′ S, 33°49 ′ W, larvae only ( Henriques-Oliveira, Silva & Nessimian, 2009) .

Florida: Sapper Point, near Key Largo , 24°59 ′ N, 80°22 ′ W, larvae only ( Ashe et al., 1987) .

Puerto Rico: on the backs of marine turtles, Mona Island , 18°10 ′ N, 67°40 ′ W, larvae only ( Schärer & Epler, 2007) .

Among the four described species, P. natans , originally described from Samoa, is the most widely distributed, ranging from Japan in the north Pacific to the Republic of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Pontomyia pacifica , described from Japan, is so far known only from the Pacific. It has been collected from Japan, Singapore, Saipan, Palau, and three islands off Queensland, Australia. Although P. oceana was described from Babelthuap Island in Palau, we did not find it in the neighbouring islands of the archipelago. It was, however, found in Taiwan and Heron Island, Australia. Pontomyia cottoni has so far been collected only from the coast of Australia. It was originally found skipping on sand close to the water’s edge, and was thought to breed in upper tidal rock pools. It is interesting to note that in southern Taiwan P. natans and P. oceana have been found at the same location, but living in different microhabitats: P. natans in sublittoral tide pools and P. oceana in coastal tide pools ( Lee, Chen & Cheng, 1995; Soong et al., 1999). Pontomyia natans specimens have also been found to co-occur with P. pacifica in Shirahama, Japan ( Tokunaga, 1934).

The undescribed species of Pontomyia from the Atlantic and the Caribbean were represented only by larvae, pupal skins, and a few females ( Schärer & Epler, 2007). Despite repeated attempts, no adult males have ever been collected for specific identification. As larvae of all stages as well as pupal skins and females were present in his samples, Bretschko (1982) suggested that perhaps it is a parthenogenetic population of P. natans or a very similar species ( Armitage et al., 1995). Molecular sequences may help to elucidate the origin of this species. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain any specimens for this study.