Chironomus strenzkei Fittkau, 1968 is a junior synonym of C. striatipennis Kieffer, 1910

Two species of Chironomus with essentially identical adult wing patterns, C. strenzkei and C. striatipennis, have been reported from Brazil. Specimens were collected from the same region in the Manaus area some 50 years apart. Morphological, cytological and DNA Barcode comparisons all confirm that these two species are inseparable on any of the characteristics studied. Moreover, for the mitochondrial COI region investigated, the sequences are completely identical, and polytene chromosome banding patterns are shared between C. strenzkei and C. striatipennis populations from Japan. I therefore argue that the former species must be a junior synonym of C. striatipennis. As a result of the synonymy, C. striatipennis now becomes a new record for California and North America, and hence has a Holarctic distribution. The DNA sequence comparisons suggest that the Brazilian population may have derived from China, rather than Korea as suggested previously, and that the Californian population may not have been introduced from South America, but could equally likely have come from Asia