The Composition of the Body Fat of Small Green Chironomids

Abstract

The body fat of the midge, Tanytarsus lewisi (Chironomidae), has been analysed, and has been found to contain major amounts of polyethenoid fatty acids normally associated with the fat of fish. It is interesting to note that this insect does all its feeding while in the larval stage on the bed of the river, under water, and that the body fat resembles that of algae, and plankton, which probably are the main sources of food, and differs considerably from the composition of most terrestrial insects hitherto recorded.