Boreoheptagyia Brundin, 1966

Namayandeh, Armin, Hudson, Patrick L., Bogan, Daniel L. & Hudson, John P., 2024, Chironomidae (Diptera: Insecta) of Alaska, USA, with descriptions of new species and a checklist, Zootaxa 5511 (1), pp. 1-95 : 48

Boreoheptagyia Brundin, 1966

Boreoheptagyia lurida Garrett, 1925 is the only named species found in Alaska. Doughman (1983) found a second species based on a larva identified by Saether (1970) from Galbraith Camp in the Northern bioregion, which he named Boreoheptagyia sp. A, and Makarchenko et al. (2008) suggested that a third unnamed species is also occurring in the Nearctic. Although the adults of both sexes of B. lurida were collected in western North America by Garrett (1925) and Johannsen (1926), the pupa and larva of this species were probably first described from Cross Bay Creek, three miles south of Juneau on July 5 by Saunders (1928). These immatures were found clinging to granite boulders at the splash line 3–6 meters above sea level. The pupae were found in a mass of jelly at the same location ( Saunders 1928). This habitat corresponds to the rheomadicolous environment described by Moller Pillot (2014), Oliver (1983), and Serra-Tosio (1989) for the larva. The single record of this species in Alaska suggests this habitat is not sampled in routine biomonitoring. We also collected a Boreoheptagyia larva from Little Rabbit Creek in Anchorage. The larvae are distinctive, with a set of tubercles or bumps on the dorsal surface of the head and over the eyes, and the body dorsally has a distinct black color pattern.