The genus ''Mesosmittia'' is

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

, thus occurring in all biogeographical regions except for

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. Almost nothing or very little is known about its ecology, the larva of one species was described by Strenze (1950) as terrestrial, but adults can be collected using emergence traps set over rivulets. The genus was recently revised for the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

with descriptions of new species. The genus comprises: *'' M. acutistylus'' Sæther, recorded from United States and Mexico. *'' M. annae'' Andersen & Mendes, recorded from Guatemala and Mexico. *'' M. flexuella'' (Edwards), recorded from all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. *'' M. glabra'' Andersen & Mendes, recorded from

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. *'' M. guanajensis'' Andersen & Mendes, recorded from Mexico. *'' M. hirta'' Andersen & Mendes, recorded from

, only the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

is known. *'' M. lobiga'' Sæther, recorded from United States and Mexico. *'' M. museophila'' Donato, recorded from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. *'' M. patrihortae'' Sæther, recorded from various locations in the

, United States, China, and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. *'' M. prolixa'' Sæther, recorded from United States and Mexico. *'' M. tora'' Sæther, recorded from United States and Mexico. *'' M. truncata'' Sæther, recorded from

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

, only the

is known.

References

*Andersen, T.A. & Mendes, H.F. 2002. Neotropical and Mexican Mesosmittia Brundin, with description of four new species (Insecta, Diptera, Chironomidae). Spixiana 25: 141-155. *Brundin, L. 1956. Zur Systematik der Orthocladiinae (Dipt., Chironomidae). Rep. Inst. Freshwat. Res. Drottningholm 37: 5-185. *Donato, M. 2011. A new species of the genus ''Mesismittia'' Brundin, 1956 (Diptera: Chironomidae) from the Neotropics with a cladistic analysis of the genus using quantitative characters. Zootaxa 2836: 51-61. Chironomidae {{Chironomidae-stub