Chironomid midge

Hundreds of these appeared in my house porch this morning, perhaps sheltering from the heavy winds. I wonder if the recent small rise in day time temps has anything to do with their mass appearance.

Many species in this family superficially resemble mosquitoes, but they lack the wing scales and elongated mouthparts.

Body length 6 mm

comments (8)

Christine Young

Lion

Nice photo! If they hang around a bit perhaps they will attract some spiders <3.

Chironomids often emerge in large numbers and mate in swarms. As weak fliers, they are easily blown about in the wind and seek shelter on buildings, as you suggested :). Posted 4 years ago
1. Ruth Spigelman
  
  Lion
  
  It's interesting to me that this emergence happened at this time of year Christine....mid-winter for us? Posted 4 years ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    It does seem early, but I don't know much about their population dynamics in Australia. Has it been a warm winter? Or, maybe there has been extra precipitation? Also, some midges emerge en masse right before or after a full moon, but that is not a factor in this case. Posted 4 years ago
  2. 1. Ruth Spigelman
      
      Lion
      
      So interesting, thank you Christine. I can give a positive to the precipitation, it's been a really wet winter so far. Posted 4 years ago
    2. 1. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        Spring here was dry, but summer has been so wet! We have had ~400% more rain so far in July than usual. Posted 4 years ago
      2. Ruth Spigelman
        
        Lion
        
        Is that a typo?! That’s an insane increase….weather extremes the world over it seems. Posted 4 years ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        Sadly, not a typo. We have been inundated and have had flood warnings nearly everyday. We even had a tornado a little bit north of us in Connecticut. The rains have finally tapered off though, and the weather is more stable now. Hoping it stays that way for awhile. Posted 4 years ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        The first chart on this website gives percentages for the Northeast. I live about 1.5 hours west of Hartford, CT:
        http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/services/blog/2021/07/16/index.html
        
        Boston is at 574% of their normal precipitation for July! Posted 4 years ago

No species identified

The species on this photo is not identified yet. When signed in, you can identify species on photos that you uploaded. If you have earned the social image editing capability, you can also identify species on photos uploaded by others.