Phaenopsectra Kieffer, 1921

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 : 82

Phaenopsectra Kieffer, 1921

We found adults of Phaenopsectra flavipes (Meigen, 1818) at a lake in the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge in late July and Auke Lake in Juneau in early August. This is a new faunistic record for Alaska. Kaufman et al. (2012) found a P. flavipes group larvae in sediment core samples from Lone Spruce Pond. Bowser et al. (2020) collected larvae of Phaenopsectra punctipes (Wiedemann, 1817) from the Slikok and Miller Creek watershed in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We collected Phaenopsectra larvae from Bob’s Lake on Prince of Wales Island near Klawock and nine other Southeastern bioregion lakes. Hershey (1985) collected Phaenopsectra larvae from Toolik Lake, where they were a minor component of the chironomid fauna. Phaenopsectra larvae inhabit sandy to fine sediments in standing and flowing water and on Aufwuchs on firm substrate ( Epler et al. 2013). Some larvae survive drought by remaining inside silk and silt cocoons ( Grodhaus 1976).