Non-Biting Midges

Here in Scotland we're used to thinking of midges as biting pests. In fact not all midges bite. Quite the opposite: only a small minority of midges bite and not all of them bite humans.

It's a case of a few zillion bad apples giving all the other midges a bad name!

Chironomidae

The family Chironomidae are known as non-biting midges - they are also sometimes called chironomids. Like the biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) they are small flies from the order Diptera.

Chironomidae are numerous throughout much of the world. There are over 5000 known species with around 1000 in the US alone.

They like fresh water and are often found in or around it - lakes, ponds, rivers etc. In Canada they are known as "Lake Flies". Chironomidae larvae and pupae can acount for up to 50% of the insect life at the bottom of some bodies of water. The larvae of some species are bright red in colour and known informally as "bloodworms". Chironomid larval imitations are popular lures with some anglers.

Different species of Chironomidae vary tremendously in their tolerance of pollution. Some can't stand it, others barely notice it. For this reason the disribution of different species in a body of water can be used to give an estimate of how polluted or clean it is.