Family CHAOBORIDAE Newman, 1834

Chaoboridae

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Introduction

Adult Chaoboridae resemble mosquitoes closely such that a vernacular name of `blind mosquitoes' has been coined. Adults are also known as `ghost gnats' and larvae as `glassworms'. Chaoboridae differ from true mosquitoes (Culicidae) in having a short proboscis and having dense hairs rather than scales on the wing veins. The adults do not bite, but they may occur in very large swarms, particularly close to eutrophic water bodies.
Chaoboridae larvae are aquatic, being found in many standing water bodies. They are recognised by their mouthparts, (prehensile antennae) and the frequent presence of an airsac in the thorax and posterior abdomen. In their behaviour, larval chaoborids are unusual—they are planktonic predators. The exception is Australomochlonyx nitidus, which is a filter feeder. Larval densities can be very high, and therefore adults can be very numerous, especially around northern billabongs.
The family Chaoboridae is cosmopolitan but nowhere is speciose. The fossil record includes several amber inclusions from as early as the Late Cretaceous of Lebanon, with a few earlier compression fossils dating from the Middle Jurassic.

General References

Borkent, A. 1993. A world catalogue of fossil and extant Corethrellidae and Chaoboridae (Diptera), with a listing of references to keys, bionomic information and descriptions of each known life stage. Entomologica Scandinavica 24: 1-24

Colless, D.H. 1977. A possibly unique feeding mechanism in a dipterous larva (Diptera: Culicidae: Chaborinae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 16: 335-339

Colless, D.H. 1980. Crop eversion in chaoborid larvae (Diptera). Australian Entomological Magazine 7: 1-3

Colless, D.H. 1986. The Australian Chaoboridae (Diptera). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 124: 1-66

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