Eretmoptera Murphyi Schaeffer (diptera: Chironomjdae), an Apparently Parthenogenetic Antarctic Midge

Chironomid midges are amongst the most abundant and diverse holo­ metabolous insects of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. Eretmoptera murphyi Schaeffer, 1914, has been enigmatic to systematists since the first discovery of adult females on South Georgia. The rediscovery of the species as a suspected introduction to Signy Island (South Orkney Islands) allows the description of the immature stages for the first time and the redescription of the female, the only sex known. E. murphyi larvae are terrestrial, living in damp moss and peat, and the brachypterous adult is probably parthenogenetic. Eretmoptera appears to have an isolated position amongst the terrestrial Orthocladiinae: the close relationship with the marine Clunio group of genera suggested by previous workers is not supported.