Chironomid

[vaneramos]

One of the earliest spring insects, this chironomid was only about 5 mm long. I cropped the photo somewhat, but the resolution is still decent, and I'm thrilled to be able to take this photo at all. Larger insects will easily fill the lens. This bodes well for fun summer photography.

Chironomids are common members of Order Diptera, the flies, closely related to and resembling mosquitoes, but lacking mouth parts that bite. Adults eat pollen, if anything (as do male mosquitoes). Also like mosquitoes, they undergo the larval stage in still water. The feathery antennae indicate this one is male.

A larger species, about 1 cm long, appeared in vast numbers in late spring where I grew up at Poplar Bluff, on the Lake Erie shore. We called them sturgeonflies, but I believe that common name is also applied to an unrelated insect. Sometimes they were so abundant that their dead bodies raised a fishy smell.

This was taken at dusk on Heffernan Street footbridge. A few minutes later I saw an early little bat fluttering over old stone houses on Arthur Street. It appeared sluggish and sleepy after a long hibernation, but evidently chironomids were on its breakfast menu.