Current status of Belgica antarctica Jacobs, 1900 (Diptera: Chironomidae) distribution by the data of Ukrainian Antarctic Expeditions

Abstract

Given the recent climate changes and their impact on the Antarctic Peninsula ecosystems, the emergence of invasive species, and increased tourism activity in this region, monitoring changes in the habitats of species native to the Antarctic Peninsula region is necessary. One such species is the Antarctic midge Belgica antarctica (Chironomidae). This insect is endemic to the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands. Thorough studies of changes in the range of this species have not been performed in recent decades. In this study, we present the area of Belgica antarctica according to the collections of biological samples during 2007–2021 (XII, XIV, XVI, XXIV, and XXV Ukrainian Antarctic Expeditions). This Antarctic midge was recorded at 26 localities on the Antarctic Peninsula and 212 localities on 55 surrounding islands between 66°08′38.4′′ S, 65°43′37.1′′ W (Cape Evensen, Stresher Peninsula, opposite the Marie Island, west coast of Graham Land) and 62°11′44.7′′ S, 58°57′40.6′′ W (King George Island, South Shetland Islands) from south-west to north-east.

Unsupervised learning for detection of possible sexual dimorphism in larvae of Belgica antarctica Jacobs (Diptera, Chironomidae)

“…Belgica antarctica Jacobs (Diptera: Chironomidae) is a wingless insect with complete metamorphosis from the Orthocladiinae subfamily endemic to the western shore of the Antarctic Peninsula (Usher and Edwards 1984, Convey and Block 1996, Kovalenko et al 2021, Kozeretska et al 2022. In recent years, this midge has been studied actively in numerous research on its genomic, phylogenetic, physiological, biochemical, ecological, and life cycle features (e.g., Benoit et al 2009, Allegrucci et al 2012, Harada et al 2014, Kelley et al 2014, Kawarasaki et al 2019, Finch et al 2020, Potts et al 2020, Ajayi et al 2021, Michailova et al 2021a, Spacht et al 2021, Yoshida et al 2021).…”