order
                        
                      
                                    Coleoptera
                                       “Adult Beetles”
                                  
                                    Coleoptera
                                       “Larval Beetles”
                                  
                                    Diptera
                                       “True Flies”
                                  
                                    Ephemeroptera
                                       “Mayflies”
                                  
                                    Hemiptera
                                       “True Bugs”
                                  
                                    Lepidoptera
                                       “Aquatic Caterpillars, Snout Moths”
                                  
                                    Megaloptera
                                       “Alderflies, Dobsonflies, and Fishflies”
                                  
                                    Odonata
                                       “Dragonflies and Damselflies”
                                  
                                    Plecoptera
                                       “Stoneflies”
                                  
                                    Trichoptera
                                       “Caddisflies”
                                 family
                        
                     Simuliidae
               
            genus
                        
                     Simulium
            
                  “Black Flies”
               
      Genus Overview
                  
               
                        This widespread genus includes at least 154 North American species. Larvae need moving water to feed with the filtering fans on their heads, either in streams or in wave-washed shores of lakes.
                  
               Characteristics
                  
               POLLUTION TOLERANCE
                        Southeast: 4.4 - 8.7
                                 Upper Midwest: 6 and higher
                                 Midwest: 4.8 and higher
                                 Mid-Atlantic: 6 and higher
                              0 = least tolerant, 10 = most tolerant
                        FEEDING HABITS
                        
                                 Collector / Filterer
                        
                     MOVEMENT
                        
                                 Clinger
                        
                     DISTRIBUTION
                        
                                 Widespread (east of the Rocky Mtns.)
                        
                     HABITAT
                        
                                 Lotic-erosional
                        
                     Diagnostic Characters
               order
                         
                                       
                                       
                                    Legs Absent
                                 family
                         
                                       
                                       
                                    Abdomen Swollen Posteriorly
                                  
                                       
                                       
                                    Crochets
                                  
                                       
                                       
                                    Head Complete and Exposed
                                  
                                       
                                       
                                    Labral Fans
                                 genus
                         
                                       
                                       
                                    Postocciput Open
                                 
                  + Expanded Character List
                  
                     
               
            
                        Order:
                           Wings and wing pads absent. Eye spots sometimes visible, but compound eyes absent. Segmented legs absent, but sometimes fleshy prolegs present. Sometimes with distinct head, often without head or with head drawn deeply into thorax. Body flattened, cylindrical, or maggot-like.
                     
                     
                        Family:
                           Mandibles move against each other along a horizontal or oblique plane. Head complete, fully exposed, distinct from thorax, and usually without lengthwise incisions. Head capsule usually with pair of conspicuous fans. Prothorax with single proleg ventrally. Thoracic segments usually individually distinguishable. Posterior abdominal segments 5–8 swollen, with ballooned or bowling-pin appearance. Last abdominal segment ringed with several radiating rows of small hooks. Mature larvae usually 3–8 mm long, or greater.
                     
                     
                        Genus:
                           Fans of setae present on labrum, if closed, stalks still conspicuous. Head nearly parallel-sided. Antenna with proximal and/or medial segments lightly to darkly pigmented or, if colorless, then postgenal cleft (median notch in posteroventral margin of head) extended anteriorly to, or beyond, hypstomal groove (transverse line in exoskeleton between ventral bases of mandibles). Remaining characters needing study of slide-mounted hypostoma (jagged projection below mandibles): Hypostoma without intermediate teeth; paralateral teeth present. Hypostoma with lateral and sublateral teeth not clustered on prominent, common lobes (median and lateral teeth can be extended beyond sublateral teeth, but not prominent lobes). Hypostoma with apex of median tooth extended anteriorly to, or beyond apices of lateral teeth; sublateral teeth variously but distinctly posterior to median and lateral teeth. 
                     
                   
                   
                   
            Dorsal
               Lateral
               Ventral
               


