Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing the antarctic midge. The antarctic midge is antarctic largest living endemic and terrestrial inhabitant reaching about 6mm (0.24in) in length at full size - sure other animals are bigger like penguins, but they’re considered marine animals. These small flies got their scientific name from a boat. Between the years 1897 and 1899, explorers set off to Antarctica on board the Belgica. During this voyage, the antarctic midge was discovered. And while human activities since that time have introduced other insects to the large continent, the antarctic midge is the only native insect living in Antarctica. They aren’t the only invertebrates found in antarctica; there are also springtails, ticks, and mites, but these aren’t insects!

Now, because they live in one of the most remote places in the world, pictures of these midges are few and far between, and pictures with a Creative Commons license come down to this single image. We even reached out to scientists to ask for photo permissions, but didn’t receive a response. So, we’re going to add in images and videos of other midges to give you all some sort of visual representation, but please know unless it’s literally this image its not the antarctic midge.

A midge is a fly, though adult antarctic midges don’t have wings! Adult antarctic midges live a short life of little more than a week during the antarctic summer. At this time they gather together to try and stay warm - yes, they’re literal snuggle bugs - reproduce, and lay eggs. The eggs, which look like dried tomato seeds, hatch about a week later and the larvae will spend the next two years eating. Food for antarctic midge larvae includes bacteria, detritus, and algae. The larvae are worm-like and dark in color, likely to protect against UV light, which is quite harsh in the southernmost continent, and to help them get warm. They have to avoid getting too hot, too fast as well, so these insects are constantly in survival mode. They produce “heat shock proteins” which are made by cells when exposed to stressful conditions. Most animals don’t eat while in survival mode - their bodies kind of shut down - but these midges just keep on living their lives like nothing is different. Antarctic midges can also lose up to 70% of the water in their body through dehydration. The environment is dry in Antarctica and will extract water from the larvae getting them to the point that they look like raisins. When exposed to water, however, they’ll re-hydrate and spring back to life!

Adult antarctic midges barely have a sense of smell because of their DNA. These arthropods have the smallest genome sequence known in any living insects. A genome sequence is basically the building blocks of an organism’s DNA. The antarctic midge has about 99 million base pairs while humans have over 3 billion.

Because there isn’t much competition, antarctic midges have no known predators or parasites and they inhabit many habitat types from moss to rocks to mud to grass - yes, grass does grow in Antarctica. They tolerate both fresh and saltwater and may be found in brackish water tidal pools as larvae, though other larvae may survive in dry conditions. They can also float on water which may be a way they’ve moved between islands, but researchers are looking into whether or not there are different species of antarctic midges

For more facts on the antarctic midge, check out the links in the description. Thank you to Goatism for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!