Female (from specimens in BOLD):
Wing length 4.5 (abt 3.5-5.0) mm, VR 1.04
General colouring dark brown; palps brownish black; thorax yellow with bands brown, postnotum dark; abdomen dark brown, with lighter posterior margin on segments 2-4;Legs yellowish with darkening at knees and tarsal segments darkening to blackfrom Ta1.
Antennae brown, darkening towards the tip; AR about 0.36-0.44; A5/A1 about 1.13-1.17; approximate segment lengths (micron) 210 : 140 : 130 : 140 : 242.
Approx. lengths of palpal segments 2-5 (micron) 50 : 225 : 275 : 420.
Legs: Approximate lengths and proportions (micron):
Pupa: some pupal characters known from a late prepupa.
Caudolateral spur on segment VIII (below) with about 3-5 spines.
Fourth instar larva a medium length plumosus-melanotus-type; length 15.3-17.8 mm, very similar to that of sp. 3b but gular region darker (posterior 2/3 dark to very dark, extending beyond width of mentum and generally higher at edges), frontoclypeus normally pale, but occasionally very slightly darkened or with a streak along the middle and on edges. Ventral tubules relatively long, about equal in length or anterior pair longer (ant. 0.92-1.80, 1.42 mm; 0.92-1.80, 1.34 mm); lateral tubules variable (about 160-240 µm). Anal tubules relatively short (420-640 µm) with no constriction, about 2-3.2 times longer than wide, ventral pair usually shorter.
Cytology: 4 polytene chromosomes with the thummi arm combination AB, CD, EF, G.
Arm G with a median and terminal Balbiani ring, with a nucleolus and heterochromatin at the other end, separated from the BRs by a distinct constriction. Nucleoli developed subterminal in E (may be a double structure), proximally to the olive in arm A and also proximal in C. Polymorphism in arms A?, C, E and G.
h'annA2: 1 - 2c, 10 - 12a, 13ba, 4a-c, 2g-d, 9 - 4d, 2h - 3, 12cb, 13 c- 19 as h'antA1, h'pluA2.
h'annB2: Puff, with distal dark bands (gps 8-7), just distal to typical bands 24-27
n'annC3: 1a - 6b, 11c - 8a, 6c - 7d, 16 - 17a, 6hg, 11d - 15, 17b - 22
n'annC4?: Simple inversion of about 1/3 of arm near the distal end. but could be p'annC1?
n'annD3: 1 - 3g. 11 - 13a, 10a, 7a - 4, 10e-b 13b - 16, 8b - 9, 7b-g, 18a-d, 8a, 17a-f, 18e - 24
h'annE1: 1 - 3e, 5a-e, 4hg, 10b - 6, 4f - 3f, 10c - 13 i.e. probably derived from h'annE2
h'annE2: 1 - 3e, 5a - 10b, 4h - 3f, 10c - 13
n'annF3: 1 - 4b, 8c - 4c, 17 - 13, 10a-d, 18c-a, 11 - 12, 9f - 8d, 18de, 19 - 23
n'annG3: subterminal nucleolus and median and terminal BR this could be a subterminal inversion of p'annG1 (not p'annG2)
Found: Alberta - Amisk Lake; Astotin Lake, Elk Island N.P. (53.685°N, 112.86°W), Two Hills (53.7104°N, 111.744°W) (both BOLD)
British Columbia - New Afton Mine, Kamloops (50.663°N, 120.504°W) (BOLD).
Manitoba - Riding Mountain N.P. (50.676°N, 99.898°W) (BOLD).
New Brunswick - Rothesay Park(45.338°N, 65.996°W) (BOLD).
Ontario - Prairie Smoke, Carden Alvar (44.645°N, 79.095°W (BOLD)
Prince Edward Island - Miscouche (46.432°N, 63.864°W)(BOLD).
Saskatchewan - Crooked Lake (50.60°N, 102.75°W), Pasqua Lake (50.78°N, 104.00°W), & Round Lake (50.53°N, 102.37°W),
Qu'Appelle River; Mission Lake, 2 Km w. Lebret (50.75°N, 103.70°W); Big Quill Lake abt 1 ml s. Dafoe (51.55°N, 104.72°W).
Yukon Territory - Lake Laberge (60.958°N, 135.184°W) (BOLD).
Indiana - Crooked Lake, Angola.
North Dakota - Larimore Dam, Grand Forks, Co.; Warsing Dam, Eddy Co.
Wisconsin - Booth Lake (Hilsenhoff & Narf 1968), East Horsehead Lake, Oneida Co.; Grandportage Lake, Iron Co. (Hilsenhoff & Narf
1968); Kegonsa Lake, Dane Co. (Hilsenhoff & Narf 1968); Pine Lake, Pleasant Lake, Walworth Co.
Lakes and dams
Larva very similar to that of sp. 3b but gular region darker, frontoclypeus pale, and lateral projections shorter. Some information on arm F published by Martin (1979), and Wülker, Devai & Devai (1989), under the name Species 9. Some larval characters given in Hilsenhoff & Narf (1968) as Chironomus n.sp. D. Karyotype described by Kiknadze et al. (2012) and (2016).
It is possible the specimen sequenced in Guryev et al. (2001) may have been a misidentified C. muratensis as it is closest to that species in GenBank acessions.