Pseudodiamesa Goetghebuer, 1939

Namayandeh, Armin, Hudson, Patrick L., Bogan, Daniel L. & Hudson, John P., 2024, Chironomidae (Diptera: Insecta) of Alaska, USA, with descriptions of new species and a checklist, Zootaxa 5511 (1), pp. 1-95 : 51

Pseudodiamesa Goetghebuer, 1939

So far, only two species of Pseudodiamesa have been found in Alaska: Pseudodiamesa arctica ( Malloch, 1919) and Pseudodiamesa branickii (Nowicki, 1873) . P. arctica is a new faunistic record for the USA.

Larvae of the species in this genus can be found in lakes and running water of cold, high-latitude areas in the Northern Hemisphere ( Saether & Andersen 2013). The relatively large larvae of this genus are detritus feeders and can complete their life cycle in water temperatures never exceeding 2⁰C. They can also diapause during relatively long periods of low temperatures ( Ilyashuk et al. 2010). Oliver (1959) noted that P. arctica larvae live in strongly oligotrophic bodies of standing water in the Arctic. However, our collection of larval specimens of this species was from the East Alsek River, indicating that the larva is both lotic and lentic. It is worth noting that the East Alsek River is a dying distributary channel of the Alsek River. As such, it is now only fed by groundwater and so the flows are now much lower and standing water habitats are common. August 8, 2007 imagery on Google Earch shows this well. Adult specimens of P. branickii were collected on Attu Island near the Massacre Bay area ( Thompson & Epler 2009). We collected larvae of this genus in several streams in Western and Southwestern Alaska, including a tributary to the Mulchatna River where we also found L. vidua larvae. A single larva was collected in Denali National Park during an insect bioblitz in 2014 in Taiga Trail Creek. We also collected larvae in Southeast Alaska in the Vodopad River on Baranof Island, an unnamed tributary to Yana Stream near Yakutat, and a tributary to Geikie Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. In the Southcoastal bioregion, we collected larvae from Meadow Creek in Eagle River.