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The 100yr-old mystery of the floating phantom midge


Eldorado

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In spring 2018, Dr. Philip Matthews spent a typical afternoon capturing dragonflies in the University of British Columbia's (UBC) experimental ponds.

Little did the zoologist know he was about to embark on a journey to solve a century-old entomological mystery involving a much smaller but equally intriguing insect. As he worked in the ponds, larvae floating in rainwater in a nearby cattle tank caught his eye.

The insects were the freshwater aquatic larvae of the Chaoborus midge, also called the 'phantom midge' due to its near transparency. The transparency makes the larvae resemble tiny ghosts as they move through lakes, ponds and puddles.

"These bizarre insects were floating neutrally buoyant in the water, which is something you just don't see insects doing," said Dr. Matthews.

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-zoologist-year-old-mystery-phantom-midge.html

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