Macronema hageni Banks 1924

Macronema hageni Banks

Macronema hageni Banks, 1924:452.—Fischer, 1963:187.—Flint, 1967c:10; 1974d:112; 1978:392–393, 402.

This is perhaps the most widespread and frequently encountered species of the genus in South America. It is recorded from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Suriname, Peru, Venezuela, and now Colombia. It is typically taken near streams and slowly flowing rivers in lowland areas.

MATERIAL.—COLOMBIA. DPTO. ANTIOQUIA: Tarazá, April 1972, R. Vélez, 1 (UNCM).

This genus was recently resurrected (Flint and Bueno-Soria, 1982) from the synonymy of the preceeding genus. It is worldwide in distribution (except Europe and most of northern Asia), and is found from Canada to northern Argentina, but not the West Indies, in the New World. It contains nearly 100 described species over the world with about 15 recorded from the neotropics.

The larvae of a number of species from North and South America, Asia, and Africa have been described (Marlier, 1964; Ross, 1944; Wiggins, 1977). They construct complex silken tubes with fine trap nets that strain small organic particles from the flowing water in which they live (Sattler, 1963; Wallace, 1975). Their food appears to be very fine organic particles that are suspended in the flowing waters.