Th e chironomidae (Diptera) of Australia.

Abstract

This is a systematic account of the species of Chironomidae from Australia based mainly on collections in Australian museums, the British Museum, and the United States National Museum. One hundred and twenty-nine species are described, 69 of them new, and keys are given to subfamilies, genera, and species. The classification proposed by Brundin (1956) has been adopted; in this, the subfamilies Diamesinae, Clunioninae, and Corynoneurinae are treated as, at the most, tribes of the subfamily Orthocladiinae. Type specimens of species described by Macquart, Walker, and Skuse have been examined and the species redescribed and figured; an attempt has been made to identify Kieffer's species, the types of which are probably lost. Some account is given of the composition of the fauna, and the presence of an element in the more primitive genera similar to the fauna of the southern part of South America has been noted.