Comparison of selected parts of larval morphology in some species of the genus Chironomus (Diptera: Chironomidae) using Scanning Electron Microscope

Morphology of Chironomus larvae using SEM

Submitted: 4 December 2017
Accepted: 26 April 2018
Published: 31 May 2018
Abstract Views: 829
PDF: 351
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Comparison of small sized and weakly chitinized structures such as the labrum (labral setae SI-SIII, labral lamella, tormal bar, pecten epipharings) and the maxilla (maxillary palp, lacinial chaeta) is provided in larvae of Chironomus plumosus, C. balatonicus, C. usenicus C. melanotus, C. acerbiphilus, and C. riparius using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The general morphological structures of the labrum and the maxilla were similar in all of the Chironomus larvae. They differed only in fine details such as labral seta, mainly S I. Seta S I is always plumose on each side and differently figured: elongated in C. balatonicus, C. plumosus, C. melanotus and C. usenicus; rounded in C. acerbiphilus and C. riparius. Some differences were also observed in the shape, length or ratio of lacinial chaetae (LCh I, LCh II). Based on morphological variation in the larvae of some Chironomus species, results indicated that the SEM method is apparently beneficial and useful in the analysis of smaller and weakly chitinized morphological structures such as the labrum and the maxilla.

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Supporting Agencies

Partly supported by the Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków, Poland as a statutory activity

How to Cite

Kownacki, Andrzej, Ewa Szarek-Gwiazda, Michał Dykas, Izabela Jabłońska-Barna, and Paraskeva Michailova. 2018. “Comparison of Selected Parts of Larval Morphology in Some Species of the Genus Chironomus (Diptera: Chironomidae) Using Scanning Electron Microscope: Morphology of Chironomus Larvae Using SEM”. Journal of Limnology 77 (s1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2018.1739.