Clogmia albipunctata
(Williston, 1893)
Records from Slovakia (see also figure 2):
Bratislava district, Bratislava, Letisko, Podunajská rovina
plain, 7869 DFS, 10. 10. 2011, on the walls of buildings, in toilets, very abundant, B. Ivčič photograph, observation; Bratislava – Dúbravka, Malé Karpaty
mountains, 7868 DFS, 9. 10. 2011, on the wall of the house, abundant, A. Barčák photograph; 18. 8. 2012, on the same wall, single adult, A. Barčák photograph.
Trenčín district, Trenčin, Biele Karpaty mountains, 7174 DFS, 15. 3. 2010, in the corridor of the building, single adult, F. Šaržík photograph; 28. 7. 2012, Sports hall Dukla and the vicinity of hall, very abundant, F. Šaržík photograph, observation; 4. 9. 2012, in prefab on 7 floors, single adult, F. Šaržík photograph.
Nitra district, Nitra, Diely, Nitrianska pahorkatina hills, 7774 DFS, 24. 5. 2012, in the building, single adult, S. Husár photograph.
Trnava district, Trnava, Prednádražie, Trnavská pahorkatina hills, 7671 DFS, 22. 9. 2005, bathroom in the house, abundant, the following years confirmed the occurrence, M. Cvan photograph, observation.
Dunajská Streda district, Šamorín, Podunajská rovina
plain, 7969 DFS, 30. 8. 2012, on the wall of the amphitheatre, abundant, A. Barčák observation; 11. 9. 2012, on the wall of the apartment building, abundant, Š. Bruczlík photograph; 12. 9. 2012, in family home, single adult, R. Sebők photograph.
Prievidza district, Vrbany env. Diviacka Nová Ves, Rudnianska kotlina valley, 7276 DFS, 21. 10. 2011, oak tree hole, 1M, J. Oboňa leg., G. Kwifte det.; 29. 9. 2012 the same oak tree hole, 1F, J. Oboňa leg., J. Ježek det.; Diviacka Nová Ves, 15. 9. 2012, on the wall of family house in the vicinity of cesspool, 1F, 4M, J. Oboňa leg., J. Ježek det.
Zvolen district, Zvolen, Zvolenská kotlina valley, 7480 DFS, 15. 5. 2012, in the shower of apartment building, 2F, M. Očadlík leg., J. Ježek det.; 30. 5. 2012, on the window of the Technical University, 1F, J. Oboňa leg., J. Ježek det.; 26. 7. 2012, in bus station, on the window and on the walls of the Technical University, very abundant, 2F, J. Oboňa leg., observation, J. Ježek det.; 7. 8. 2012, in bus station, very abundant, 6F, J. Oboňa leg., observation, J. Ježek det.; on the window of the Technical University, very abundant, 19F, 7M, J. Oboňa leg., observation, J. Ježek det.; 2. 9. 2012, in bus station, very abundant, D. Tomášiková photograph, 27. 9. 2012, on the walls of the Technical University, 1F, M. Očadlík leg., J. Ježek det.; 2. 10. 2012, on toilet in Zvolen museum, 1F, M. Očadlík leg., J. Ježek det.; 17. 10. 2012 bus station, abundant, 1M, 3F, J. Oboňa leg., observation, J. Ježek det.
Piešťany district, Piešťany, Trnavská pahorkatina hills, 7472 DFS, 24. 8. – 14. 10. 2012, on the walls of family house, very abundant, Ľ. Balážiová observation, Ľ. Balážiová & J. Komár photograph; 28. 7. 2012, in many buildings, on toilet, J. Komár observation; 30. 8. 2012, Trebatice, Trnavská pahorkatina hills, 7472 DFS, in family home in toilet, single adult, Ľ. Balážiová observation.
Pezinok district, Pezinok, Trnavská pahorkatina hills, 7769 DFS, 2. 9. 2012, on the door of the house, single adult, A. Alena observation.
Košice district, Košice, Košická kotlina basin, 7293 DFS, 2. 9. 2012, in and on many buildings, abundant, K. Ox photograph, observation; 11. 9. 2012, in the shower of Home for Youth on Werferova street, single adult, F. Šaržík observation; 12. 9. 2012, Košice – Barca, on the walls of the buildings, abundant, K. Ox observation; 13. 9. 2012, in the Home for Youth on Werferova street, single adult, F. Šaržík photograph; 4. 10. 2012, in buildings, abundant, K. Ox photograph,
observation.
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Figure 1.
Clogmia albipunctata, habitus. Photograph by František Šaržík (29. 8. 2012, Trenčín). |
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Figure 2.
Map showing records of Clogmia albipunctata from Slovakia.
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Clogmia albipunctata (Williston, 1893) is a species that has expanded its range substantially in the later years.
Vaillant (1971) listed the species’ distribution as worldwide between 40° S and 42° N. Its distribution is probably also affected by altitude. The first German record (Schwanebeck) was from 108 m a. s. l. and the Belgian and Dutch records are from even lower altitudes. It is not known how the species occurs along altitudinal gradients in the tropics.
Clogmia albipunctata is conspicuous and abundant wherever it occurs. Since previous works on synanthropic Psychodidae in the Czech Republic and Slovakia don’t mention the species (e.g.
Ježek 1972), we suppose that this species is genuinely newly arrived species in the Czech and Slovak faunas.
Ježek et al. (2012) recorded
C. albipunctata in
Quercus tree hole in autumn 2011, as the first Central European breeding record of the species from non–anthropogenic habitat. In autumn 2012 the species occurred again in the same tree hole. Its absence in earlier parts of the year predict, however, that
C. albipunctata does not survive the winter months in this ecosystem. We assume that this tree hole was recolonized through summer with specimens from anthropogenic environments nearby. Therefore, the seasonal occurrence of this invasive immigrant in tree holes does not pose a significant risk to the native tree–hole biodiversity.
Except for the above–mentioned specimens, most observations and specimens of
C. albipunctata from Slovakia are from large towns (e.g. Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Trenčín, Zvolen, Košice), from the period May to November. These localities are all in southern Slovakia, with an altitude lower than 300 m a. s. l.. The species has not yet been confirmed from north Slovakia. All published records from the Czech Republic are from anthropogenic habitats in Brno, which lies similarly in the southern part of the country at 49° 12’ N 16° 37’ E.
Clogmia albipunctata is one of the best known species from family Psychodidae. The larvae develop in shallow, polluted water containers or wet organic material and slime, using their mandibles to shred organic material. According to
Vaillant (1971), the development time from egg to adult takes about seventeen days, and depending on temperature the adults live for about ten days. In the laboratory at 22°C, the larval stage takes sixteen to seventeen days and the pupal stage five to six days (Sehgal et al. 1977).
Humans can easily disperse
C. albipunctata over long distances with garbage or small water containers like car tires. The underground sewage system may aid local dispersal. Alternatively, the species may spread on its own during the summers, when it also breeds outdoors (Boumans et al. 2009). It is not known how
C. albipunctata spread to Slovakia, but it was probably from the Czech Republic.
The most important dispersal factor of the species is probably humans and their activity, especially transport. The presence of large quantities of individuals at transport terminals such as the bus terminal in Zvolen, suggests that specimens are dispersed to new areas with buses. To establish new populations all that is necessary is suitable breeding media (i.e. wet organic material) and a fertilized female. Each female can lay from 200 to 300 eggs which hatch in a few days (Sehgal et al. 1977,
Simões et al. 1977,
Sebastiani 1978). Thus a single pair can produce thousands of offspring in a few months.
The combination of a relatively short life cycle, high fertility and the abundance of suitable places for larvae to develop suggest that
C. albipunctata will continue to spread rapidly. It is very likely that the species already is present, but overlooked, in neighbouring countries such as Austria and Hungary as well.
We recommend that future faunistic and ecological studies are conducted to determine:
– whether
C. albipunctata poses a risk to other moth flies associated with the same type of anthropogenic habitats (e.g.
Psychoda (Tinearia)
alternata Say, 1824;
Psychoda (Psychodocha)
cinerea Banks, 1894; Psychoda (Logima)
albipennis Zetterstedt, 1850)
– whether altitude may be an important limiting factor to the spread of
C. albipunctata.
request
Dear readers,
In the event that you ever observed C. albipunctata at any place in Slovakia or in neighbouring countries, please capture few individuals in small container, pour with ethanol (e.g. with Alpa) and send this specimen to the address of the first author.
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Nederlandse Faunistische Medelingen, 30: 1–10.
Boumans L, Zimmer J–Y & Verheggen F, 2009: First records of the ‘bathroom mothmidge’ Clogmia albipunctata, a conspicuous element of the Belgian fauna that went unnoticed (Diptera: Psychodidae).
Phegea, 37: 153–160.
Faulde M & Spiesberger M, 2012: Hospital infestations by the moth fly, Clogmia albipunctata (Diptera: Psychodinae) in Germany.
Journal of Hospital Infection, 81: 134–136
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Jurand A, 1977: Effects of caffeine on growth and metamorphosis of moth fly Telmatoscopus albipunctatus (Diptera, Psychodidae).
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 21 (2): 174–181.
Simões L,
Jurand A &
Sehgal S, 1977. Cell differentiation during the ontogeny of larval salivary glands of the fly, Telmatoscopus albipunctatus.
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