Dark mosquitoes
| Dark mosquitoes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.png)
Thaumalea testacea |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Thaumaleidae | ||||||||||||
| Bezzi , 1913 | ||||||||||||
| Genera | ||||||||||||
|
The dark mosquitoes (Thaumaleidae) are a family of the two-winged birds (Diptera) and belong to the mosquitoes (Nematocera). Around 200 species of this group of animals live worldwide, 16 of which are known in Germany. Thaumalea testacea with a body length of three to four millimeters is particularly common .
The dark mosquitoes only have very short antennas , but long buttons . They mainly inhabit the mountains (alpine region) and do not sting. The adults are bad fliers.
The larvae are slender and gray-green on top. They live near springs or in the splash zones of fast-flowing, clean streams, with their backs mostly sticking out of the water. With their unpaired pseudopods on the first breast segment, the pushers on the abdomen and long bristles on the body, they hold on to the growth of the stones. The tracheal system is closed except for the foremost and the rearmost openings. The larvae have four "anal gills" on their anus, which, however, are probably not used for breathing, but for osmoregulation . The larvae can move by bending and then clawing the front body again and graze the vegetation on the stones. The pupa lives in the dry next to the larval living space, mostly under rocks and leaves.
literature
- K. Honomichl, H. Bellmann: Biology and ecology of the insects . CD-Rom, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1994
- O. Saether, R. Wagner: Insecta: Diptera: Chaoboridae and Thaumaleidae . Freshwater fauna of Central Europe 21/10 + 11, Spektrum, Heidelberg 2002
- C. Wesenberg-Lund : Biology of freshwater insects . Berlin 1943
