Polypedilum Kieffer, 1912

Genus Polypedilum Kieffer, 1912 View in CoL

Asheum Sublette et Sublette, 1983, as subgenus.

The largest genus of Chironomidae , with>500 described species that occur in all zoogeographical regions except Antarctica. Based on imaginal characters, eight subgenera were recognized by Saether et al. (2010), namely Tripedilum Kieffer, 1921 ; Polypedilum s. str.; Pentapedilum Kieffer, 1913 ; Tripodura Townes, 1945; Uresipedilum Oyewo et Saether, 1998; Cerobregma Saether et Sundal, 1999 ; Kribionympha Kieffer, 1921 ; and Probolum Andersen et Saether, 2010. However, the delimitation of the subgenera was questioned by Yamamoto & Yamamoto (2015) and Cranston et al. (2016). The position of Asheum is unclear but it is usually treated as a subgenus within Polypedilum (see Pinho & Silva 2020). The larva of Polypedilum occur in virtually all still and flowing waters, except in the Arctic and at high elevation. They are mostly found in sediments, mining water plants or specializing in plant-held waters (phytotelmata) ( Epler et al. 2013).