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FEATURES:
COMMON NAME:
MORPHOLOGY:
- The black
flies have a slender, club-shaped larvae that attaches to the river
substrates with several incomplete circles of miute hooks on posterior
ends
- The hooks
extend out through silken pads
- If they
are knocked off their substrate, they Ôpay out silk life linesÕ to return
to original location
- The second
hooks are located on the apex of the fleshy proleg on the first segment
of the thorax
- The head
capsule is heavily sclerotized, presences of short antennae and two
pairs of eyespots
- They contain
a pair of large dorsal labral fans that capture food and pass water
- The Pupa
is covered by a silken cocoon that is attached to a substrate
- From the
antero-lateral corners of the pupal thorax arise 2 respiratory organs
that consist of many thin plaston-covered filaments, or gills
- The cocoon
opens down stream
- The Adult
has a stout body with a humped thorax and broad, short wings which have
prominent veins concentrated near the anterior wing margin and a large
anal lobe
- They are
dark brown/black and some have pale markings on their legs
- A compound
eye is present with no ocelli and antennae have 9-11 segements lacking
setae
- The legs
are short and stout with a simple claw
- The mouthparts
differ depending on species use (blood sucking or nectar collecting)
- (Williams
et al., 1992 pg 90-92)
- They have
a swollen abdomen that they attach to the substratum with a caudal sucker
- Relatively
large head, and a single ventral proleg on the thorax
- The pupae
have a pair of highly branched thoracic gills that aid in respiration
- (Thorp,
1991 pg.628)
- Size range
from 1.0-5.5mm
- (Williams
et al., 1992)
- Both sexes
feed on plant nectar for subsistence
- (http://www.biology.eku.edu/SCHUSTER/bio%20806/diptera.htm)
- They use
the labral fans to filter diatoms and other food from the current
- (Thorp,
1991 pg.628)
-
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FUNCTIONAL
FEEDING GROUP:
- The black
flies are collectors, filter, suspension, herbivorous, or detritivores
- (Williams
et al., 1992)
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