Requests for Help and Information

Below are recent requests for information and/or help received by the webmaster. If you provide help and you feel this information would be of interest to the chironomid community, please notify the webmaster for inclusion on this page. Messages will be listed most recent first.

However, a faster method of communication would be to utilize either the Chironomidae Discussion Forum (web) or the Chiro-L listserver (email subscription).

Received 17 July 2012 - Isabelle Proulx

I am seeking COI sequences or specimens (4th instar larvae or adults preserved in 85% ethanol or higher to perform molecular analysis) of C. anthracinus I have been collecting 4th instar Chironomus larvae in Ontario and Quebec (Canada). Molecular and morphological evidence has led us to believe that some of our specimens might be C. rempeli. Dr. Jon Martin (Prof. at the University of Melbourne) has looked at the chromosomes, but the cytology was not good enough to clarify whether they might be C. rempeli or C. anthracinus. Therefore, the only other way to confirm the identification of our specimens would be to compare our COI sequences to the sequences of formally identified C. anthracinus. Your assistance will of course be gratefully acknowledged in any publications arising out of this work.

Isabelle Proulx PhD Student
INRS - Centre Eau Terre Environnement 490, rue de la Couronne Quebec (Quebec) Canada G1K 9A9 isabelle.proulx@ete.inrs.ca

Received 30 September 2010 - Jon Gelhaus

S. S. Roback Reprints on Chironomidae Available for Free Distribution: The Academy of Natural Sciences Entomology Department has a considerable number of reprints available for papers published by Selwyn Roback on Chironomidae (and a few other aquatic groups). We have compiled sets of these available papers comprising anywhere from 30-60 papers (first sets have the most papers). If interested please send us an email with your name and shipping address and we will mail a set to you. The first requests will receive the most complete set of reprints. We will not hold onto these sets forever, so please send your request promptly. If you know of students and researchers who might be interested, please forward this information to them. Send requests with your name and complete shipping address (with an email message heading of "Roback Reprint Set") to: Jon Gelhaus, email: gelhaus@ansp.org.

Thanks
Jon K. Gelhaus, Ph.D.
Curator of Entomology
The Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Ben Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA, USA 19103-1195

Received 29 November 2009 - Hanno Schmidt

We are a team of molecular ecologists working on the species pair Chironomus riparius and C. piger, and we are seeking aid regarding sample acquisition.

Our aim is to explore the effective population size and structure of our study species in Europe and possibly worldwide later on. Therefore we need larval samples from as many places as possible and would be thankful for every sample you can provide in this condition:

- larvae (L4 if possible) - from natural populations (no laboratory cultures)
- alive or stored in >90% ethanol or RNAlater solution
- at least 20 individuals in ideal case.

If you have the ability to collect and send samples please contact us for further discussion of details. We are: Prof. Dr. Thomas Hankeln (Molecular Genetics, University of Mainz), PD Dr. Markus Pfenninger, Dr. Carsten Nowak, Joao Barateiro Diogo, Sabrina Nemec and Hanno Schmidt (BiK-F Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, hannoschmidt at gmx.de). Thanks a lot for every help you are willing to offer!

Last Update: Friday, 03-Oct-2014