Species Einfeldia australiensis (Freeman, 1961)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Chironomus (Xenochironomus) australiensis Freeman, P. 1961. The Chironomidae (Diptera) of Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 9: 611-737 [696].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANIC ♂ adult, Oxford Falls, NSW.
  Paratype(s) ANIC 5♂ adults, as the holotype; ANIC 2♂ adults, Hornsby, NSW.

  Secondary source:

   Cranston, P.S. & Martin, J. 1989. 26. Family Chironomidae. pp. 252-274 in Evenhuis, N.L. (ed.). Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. Honolulu and Leiden : Bishop Museum Press and E.J. Brill 1155 pp.

Generic Combinations

• Einfeldia australiensis (Freeman, 1961). —
  Cranston, P.S., Martin, J., Mulder, M. & Spies, M. 2016. Clarification of Einfeldia Kieffer, 1922 (Diptera: Chironomidae) with E. australiensis (Freeman, 1961), comb. n. based on immature stages. Zootaxa 4158: 491-506

Introduction

In cataloguing the Austro-Pacific Chironomidae, Cranston & Martin (1989) had to leave several described species unallocated to a modern generic concept. Amongst these taxa was Chironomus (Xenochironomus) australiensis Freeman, 1961, described as adult males from four localities in south-east Australia. As contemporarily defined (e.g. Cranston et al. 1989), Xenochironomus Kieffer, 1921 lies outside Chironomus Meigen, 1803 and is accorded generic rank. Cranston & Martin (1989) placed C. australiensis in ‘incertae sedis’ because only the adult had been described, although the species had been reared from South Australia in 1973 (by Martin). Subsequently both Martin and Cranston recognised that its immature stages belonged to neither Chironomus nor Xenochironomus.(Cranston et al. 2016)
In the keys to Chironomidae in New South Wales (Cranston 1996), the larva of C. (X.). australiensis runs to Dicrotendipes Kieffer, the pupa to Kiefferulus Goetghebuer. Neither generic assignment looked plausible, and Einfeldia Kieffer was not included in that work; thus, 'Xenochironomus australiensis' was left 'not ... generically placed' (op. cit.: 261).
In contrast to the larva and adult male of E. australiensis, the pupal morphology falls considerably outside the current diagnosis for Einfeldias. str. . The overall pupal morphology in E. australiensis remains more compatible with Einfeldia than with any other established genus. Although E. australiensis differs from Holarctic Einfeldia pupae, several other features support placing the species among the forms keyed by Pinder & Reiss (1986) in couplet 53, i.e. Einfeldia 'species group A' and large parts of Chironomus in the wide sense of Epler et al. (2013).(Cranston et al. 2016)

General References

Cranston, P.S. 1996. Identification Guide to the Chironomidae of New South Wales. AWT Identification Guide Number 1. West Ryde, NSW : Australian Water Technologies Pty Ltd.

Cranston, P.S., Dillon, M., Pinder, L.C.V. & Reiss, F.R. 1989. Keys and diagnoses of the adult males of the subfamily Chironominae (Diptera, Chironomidae). Entomologica Scandinavica. Supplementum 34: 353–502

Cranston, P.S., Martin, J., Mulder, M. & Spies, M. 2016. Clarification of Einfeldia Kieffer, 1922 (Diptera: Chironomidae) with E. australiensis (Freeman, 1961), comb. n. based on immature stages. Zootaxa 4158: 491-506

Cranston, P.S. & Martin, J. 1989. 26. Family Chironomidae. pp. 252-274 in Evenhuis, N.L. (ed.). Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. Honolulu and Leiden : Bishop Museum Press and E.J. Brill 1155 pp.

Epler, J.H., Ekrem, T. & Cranston, P.S. 2013. The larvae of Chironominae (Diptera: Chironomidae) of the Holarctic region—Keys and diagnoses. pp. 387–556 in Andersen, T., Cranston, P.S. & Epler, J.H. Chironomidae of the Holarctic Region: Keys and diagnoses, Part 1: Larvae. Insect Systematics and Evolution 66 (Supplement)

Pinder, L.C.V. & Reiss, F. 1986. Chironomidae. pp. 299–456 in Wiederholm, T. Chironomidae of the Holarctic region. Keys and Diagnoses. Part 2. Pupae. Entomologica Scandinavica. Supplementum 28

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