NOTES ON GENERAL MORPHOLOGY AND TERMINOLOGY OF THE CHIRONOMIDAE (DIPTERA)

Abstract

Some morphological terms and characters of Chironomidae are discussed. The proposed terminology of the head chaetotaxy is more in accordance with that of other Diptera. The term flagellomere is preferred instead of flagellar segment. The morphology and terminology of tentorium, cibarial pump, maxillary palp, ocelli, and thorax including humeral pit are given special attention. Suggested terminology for the male hypopygium is as follows: gonocoxite and gonostylus for the major genital claspers, volsellae (consisting of claspette and endomere) for the appendices, phallapodeme, sternapodeme, and coxapodeme for the endoskeleton and aedeagal lobe for the "Dritte Spange". The term seta is preferred to such terms as hair, bristle, etc. It is suggested that in the larvae the name premandible be retained for the moment. There seems to be strong evidence for applying the term mentum instead of "hypostomial plate", "hypochilum", or "labial plate". The mentum seems to consist of two plates for which the terms ventromentum and dorsomentum are proposed. The "paralabial plates" are parts of the ventromentum and can be termed ventromental plates. A more correct name for the "glossa" seems to be ligula.