Moonstruck midges - that's what we call marine midges of the genus Clunio, because the extremely short-lived adults can only be found during low tides at full moon and new moon. They possess a lunar clock to time development and reproduction to the most suitable tides - the spring tides. But in fact, ...
... this has only been clearly demonstrated for Clunio marinus, Clunio mediterraneus and Clunio ponticus from Europe, as well as Clunio tsushimensis from Japan. We therefore want to leverage the collective abilities of citizen scientists and academic researchers to collect records from all over the world and use them to assess the lunar rhythms of other species of Clunio and their local populations.
Citizen Science - how can I contribute?
1 Document the presence of Clunio. Go to the nearest beach at low tide. Usually, Clunio is found in rocky places, but they have also been reported from mud flats. Check if you find tiny midges hovering on the water surface or crawling on the emerged rocks, algae or sand. Take a picture. Post it on iNaturalist with coordinates, date and time. We will retrieve it automatically, see if it is Clunio, and include it in our dataset.
2 Test if there is a lunar rhythm. If you have continuous access to a beach, you can go there as often as you like during a lunar cycle or the entire year. Every time you see Clunio, take a picture and post it on iNaturalist. We are also interested in knowing about days when you did not find Clunio – you can simply report place and time via mail. We will use this data to assess the seasonality and the lunar rhythm of your local population.
3 Take a sample for genetic analysis. To the best of our knowledge, Clunio midges are not endangered or protected anywhere in the world - unless you are in a nature reserve, of course. So if you can get hold of a few midges, please conserve them for us! Pure ethanol is best, but you can also keep them dry. Then please get in touch with us - we will connect you with a researcher in your country that you can send your sample to (without having to worry about Nagoya protocol regulations, export permits or the like).
Academic Research - Building a Global Network
We are also building a research network to study marine midges and their fascinating rhythms - and possibly any other thing we find in the intertidal. You name it!
So if you are a naturalist or researcher in marine ecology, entomology, chronobiology or any other discipline, and you
- want to contribute (taxonomy, DNA barcoding, eDNA records, genomes, continuous observation, ...),
- want us to look for your organism of interest when we are in the field,
- want to become a collaboration partner,
feel free to check our Academic Partnership page and contact us!