Oriental Chironomus: C. nr. salinarius

C. salinarius (Kieffer 1921)?

This species may not be identical to the European and African species (see below)

From Sasa (1978):
Adult

Male: Wing length 4.5 mm, width 0.21 of length; VR 0.92.  AR 3.4
Color almost entirely brown, thoracic scutae hardly visible; legs uniformly dark brown, fore tarsus with long beard.  Cross vein of wing conspicuously pigmented.
Head: Frontal tubercles 50 x 19 (2.63) µm.  Palps (segs. 2-5) 90 : 250 : 250 : 320; P5/P4 & P5/P3 = 1.28.
Thoracic setae not listed.
Leg lengths (microns) and proportions as follows:

	Fe	Ti	Ta1	Ta2	Ta3	Ta4	Ta5	LR	F/T	BR
PI	1560	1590	2050	1170	920	760	340	1.3	0.98	4.6
PII	1760	1710	980	630	460	320	230	0.59	1.03	-
PIII	1950	2030	1510	900	680	410	250	0.74	0.96	-

Abdominal tergites almost entirely black, TI-II with inconspicuous apical pale bands, TI-II with inconspicuous apical pale bands, TIII-V with a faint pale band along caudal margin. TIX with about 12-19 setae in a single patch.
Anal point narrow at base; Superior Volsella Strenzke's S(b) type; Inferior Volsella, with simple setae, reaching beyond the end of the anal point to about the middle of the gonostylus, which is moderately expanded and narrows sharply over posterior third, about 4+2 setae at tip.
Sasa (1978) compares the coloration to C. acerbiphilus, but notes that it can be distinguished because C. acerbiphilus is shining black.

From Sasa 1978

Female:
Wing length 5.4 mm, width 1.35 mm, VR 0.94; body coloration dark as in male.
Antennal proportions (micron) 60 : 150 : 110 : 110 : 210. AR 0.49, A5/A1 3.5.
Leg lengths (micron) and proportions:

	Fe	Ti	Ta1	Ta2	Ta3	Ta4	Ta5	LR	F/T	Ta4/Ti
PI	1660	1610	2200	1100	880	760	370	1.36-1.37	1.03	0.47
PII	1880	1830	1000	590	440	300	230	0.55	1.03	0.16
PIII	2030	2100	1460	800	660	390	270	0.70	0.97	0.19

Abdominal tergites almost entirely black, TI-II with inconspicuous apical pale bands. Sasa (1978) compares the coloration to C. acerbiphilus, but notes that it can be distinguished because C. acerbiphilus is shining black.

Pupa: Only information is that the spurs of segment VIII have several (1-5) very short but pointed spurs (Fig. 61, below).

From Sasa 1978

Fourth instar larva: a salinarius-type larva; anal tubules short, less than one-half of the length of the posterior pseudopods (62, above). Length, 1 female, (14.3 mm), anal tubules short, less than one-half length of the posterior pseudopods. Mentum type I and center tooth type IIA. Gular region pale, frontoclypeus darkened.
Antenna with basal segment about 2.9-3 times longer than wide, RO about a third up from base; AR about 1.98-2.14.
Ventromentum long and narrow, 4.5 times wider than deep, and 1.08-1.28 times the mentum width; VMR about 0.44.
Premandible with inner tooth about 5 times wider than outer tooth (ty. B1).
Mandible type IIB, MTR about 0.3-0.4; Pecten mandibularis about 10-12.

Cytology: Information only for European and Israeli specimens. Figured by Keyl & Keyl (1959).
Four polytene chromosomes possibly with the thummi-group chromosome combination AB, CD, EF, G, although some arms not easy to recognize (Keyl 1962).
Nucleolus probably in arm C. Arm G closely paired with a large BR about one third from left end (as designated by Keyl & Keyl 1959), another smaller BR near each end. Puff of arm B near distal end. A large subterminal inversion has been recorded in arm E.
Keyl (1962) mapped only arm E:
sal E1: 1a-c, 3b-e, 10b � 4g, 3a � 1c, 4f-a, 3f, 10c - 13

Whole chromosome complement of C. salinarius from Bulgaria

Found: Japan - Tokushima City; Okunosu, both Tokushima Pref., Shikoku; Lake Toufutsu, Abashiri, and Sorachi River, Kamikawa, Hokkaido; Nakamura, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku; Noubu, Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyushu; Lake Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture, Otsu City (35.00°N, 135.88°E), Shiga Prefecture, Honshu.
Bulgaria - Sosopol.
Israel - Akko (32.92°N, 35.05°E); Jerusalem (31.78°N, 35.22°E); Maagan Mikhael (32.33°N, 34.92°E).

Molecular Data
MitochondrialCO1: Sequence for a specimen from Otsu City has about 98% homology to sequence for C. salinarius. This may indicate that the Japanese specimen is a closely related species to the European and African material. There is no data for the Israeli specimens.
Michailova et al. (2009) hybridized the conserved Cpy/Cty gene (clone Cla1.1) to near the centromere of arm F.

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