''Gigantodax'' is a genus of 68 species of

black flies A black fly or blackfly (sometimes called a buffalo gnat, turkey gnat, or white socks) is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. It is related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Over 2,200 speci ...

distributed along the Andes from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.
The Polytene Chromosomes of Cnesia dissimilis (Edwards) and Three Species of Gigantodax Enderlein (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Lanin National Park (Argentina) by Cecilia L Coscaron Arias The Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of the genus was revised in 1989 by an academic paper published in the

bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

. In 1997, researchers from the ''

Universidad Nacional del Comahue The National University of Comahue ( es, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, UNCNavarro, Fernando A. ''. Tremédica, Asociación Internacional de Traductores y Redactores de Medicina y Ciencias Afines/UNCoPortal de Prensa de la Uncoma, Universidad ...

'' in Rio Negro, Argentina collected larvae of '' G. marginalis'' and other

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

species in

Lanín National Park Lanín National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Lanín) is a national park of Argentina, located in the Neuquén Province, with forests of diverse tree varieties, mainly Fagaceae and conifers such as the lenga and the '' Araucaria'', many species ...

Neuquén Province Neuquén () is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also meets La Pampa Province a ...

. After a close examination included chromosome mapping, they reported:

Females are not anthropophilic and can be found as well as in mountain creeks from sea level to 4,700 m of altitude (Wygodzinsky & Coscaron 1989). ''Gigantodax'' is a peculiar genus, showing the greatest diversity among the Prosimuliini genera, with synapomorphies in imago and preimaginal stages that help to differentiate species in this genus from other genera. The unusual morphology of the respiratory filaments in the pupal stage is useful in differentiating species.

These South American researchers also analyzed '' G. marginalis'', '' G. fulvescens'', and '' G. chilensis'' and reported that ''

Cnesia ''Cnesia'' is a genus of 4 species of black flies. They are distributed in Argentina and Chile. Species *'' C. dissimilis'' (Edwards, 1931) *'' C. gynandrum'' (Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a promin ...

'', another

Prosimuliini Prosimuliini is a tribe of black flies. It contains over 140 living species, with more than a half of them in the genus '' Prosimulium''. There are 6 living genera, and 2 genera that are only known from Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geol ...

genus, is

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

with southern populations of ''Gigantodax'' and that both genera breed on both sides of the Andean range in Argentina and Chile in subantarctic Patagonia. They also reported that ''Gigantodax'' species in this area are also sympatric with ''

Simulium ''Simulium'' is a genus of black flies, which may transmit diseases such as onchocerciasis (river blindness). It is a large genus with several hundred species, and 41 subgenera. The flies are pool feeders. Their saliva, which contains antico ...

''. These genus was re-examined in 2007 by entomologits from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil who explained that in their paper:

...the first phylogenetic hypothesis for the 13 Southern Hemisphere genera of Simuliidae is proposed, through a cladistic approach. In order to investigate the position of those genera representatives of five
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
genera were also included in the analyses as outgroups. The study was based on a data matrix with 33 terminal taxa and 119 morphological characters of adult, pupa and larva. The phylogenetic analysis under equal weights resulted in four most parsimonious trees, with similar topologies and 349 steps...
Preliminary considerations on phylogeny of Simuliidae Genera from Southern Hemisphere (Insecta, Diptera)

Species

*'' Brophyi (Species group), Brophyi'' species-group :*'' G. antarcticus'' ( Bigot, 1888) :*'' G. awa'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. brophyi'' (

Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate * Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and ora ...

, 1931) :*'' G. chilensis'' (Philippi, 1865) :*'' G. femineus'' (

, 1931) :*'' G. flabellus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. kuscheli'' Wygodzinsky, 1952 :*'' G. laevigatus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. luispenai'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. marginalis'' (

, 1931) :*'' G. multituberculatus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. ortizi'' Wygodzinsky, 1974 :*'' G. osornorum'' Muñoz de Hoyos, Martínez, Mejía & Bueno, 1995 :*'' G. paramorum'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. patihuaycensis'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. rufidulus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. trifidus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. viannamartinsi'' Ramírez-Pérez, 1980 :*'' G. zumbahuae'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 *'' Cilicinus'' species-group :*'' G. arrarteorum'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. basinflatus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. cilicinus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. clandestinus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. destitutus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. fulvescens'' (Blanchard, 1852) :*'' G. incomitatus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. lazoi'' Takaoka, Hirai & Tada, 1988 :*'' G. mariobordai'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. pennipunctus'' Enderlein, 1934 :*'' G. shannoni'' (

, 1931) *'' Cormonsi'' species-group :*'' G. abalosi'' Wygodzinsky, 1958 :*'' G. brevis'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. cormonsi'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. gracilis'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. leonorum'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. misitu'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. praealtus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. siberianus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. vulcanius'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. wygodzinskyi'' Moncada, Muñoz de Hoyos & Bueno, 1981 *'' Igniculus'' species-group :*'' G. carmenae'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. igniculus'' Coscarón & Wygodzinsky, 1962 *''

Minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

'' species-group :*'' G. araucanius'' (

, 1931) :*'' G. bolivianus'' Enderlein, 1925 :*'' G. eremicus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. minor'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 *'' Multifilis'' species-group :*'' G. multifilis'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 *'' Wrighti'' species-group :*'' G. adleri'' Moulton, 1996 :*'' G. aquamarensis'' (De León, 1945) :*'' G. bettyae'' Wygodzinsky, 1974 :*'' G. bierigi'' Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez, 1989 :*'' G. cervicornis'' Wygodzinsky, 1974 :*'' G. conviti'' Ramírez-Pérez, 1980 :*'' G. corniculatus'' Wygodzinsky, 1974 :*'' G. cypellus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. dryadicaudicis'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. herreri'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. horcotiani'' Wygodzinsky, 1949 :*'' G. impossibilis'' Wygodzinsky, 1974 :*'' G. incapucara'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. nasutus'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. rufescens'' (

, 1931) :*'' G. septenarius'' Wygodzinsky & Coscarón, 1989 :*'' G. willei'' Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez, 1989 :*'' G. wrighti'' (Vargas, Martínez Palacios & Díaz Nájera, 1944) *Unplaced :*'' G. cuyano'' Coscarón, 1981 :*'' G. dryadibranchium'' Coscarón, 1981 :*'' G. pucara'' Coscarón, 1981

Literature cited

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5560224 Simuliidae Culicomorpha genera Taxa named by Günther Enderlein