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The phantom midges are small to medium-sized
midges (adults 1.4-10.0 mm long) with a slender body. An elongate
clypeus, enlarged prementum and mouthparts form a short rostrum;
mandibles well sclerotized; labella well-developed; palps
five-segmented. Antenna with 13 flagellomeres, plumed in males;
compound eyes reniform, ocelli absent. Wing narrow, elongated, with
culicid venation; veins with narrow scales or hairs, membrane with
microtrichia. Legs long, stilt-like, with setae but without scales.
Abdomen with eight pregenital segments, setose (without scales). Male:
9th tergite well developed, 9th sternite reduced, gonocoxite well
developed, gonostylus slender. Female genitalia: well-developed 9th
tergite, narrow sternite, gonopore in atrium between 8th and 9th
segments, cerci setose, three seminal capsules. Larvae transparent,
head capsule fully developed; antennae prehensile (in European
genera), mandibles with spines, maxilla reduced to stipes and palpus,
labium reduced; thorax enlarged, with fused segments; abdomen with 8
distinct segments, apneustic (Chaoborus) or metapneustic, the
latter with spiracles at the top of a siphon; anal segment with 4
anal tubuli, a brush of setae and fan-like row of setae; terminal
lobe with flattened processes and hooks. Pupa mosquito-like,
cephalothorax nearly one-third of the body, with thoracic horns
bearing a tracheal opening, abdomen pendulous; caudal end of pupa
with a pair of articulated anal paddles. The larvae are aquatic, in
lentic freshwater habitats ranging from temporary pools and
phytotelmae to large water bodies. All larvae (except for
Australomochlonyx nitidus) are predators on small arthropods,
capturing prey with their antennae.
The family includes six extant genera and about
fifty
species. The European fauna consists of nine species (Wagner
2007), six of which are recorded in the Czech Republic and four in
Slovakia (Jedlička
& Országh 1997,
Rozkošný 1998); the species number is probably definitive for
the Czech Republic; the data in the Fauna Europaea (Wagner
2007) are incomplete.
The basic characteristics of the family were
given by Saether (1997a,
b,
2002); the Central European species may be identified using the
monograph by Saether (1997b) and Rozkošný (1980).
The nomenclature corresponding with that one in Fauna Europaea (Wagner
2007) is used in present checklist.
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