Evidence
Where all of this came from.
39 reference records rest on 224 published pages, and 109 of those come from state and provincial natural-resources departments. That suits a set of records about what lives in the water those departments survey. The rest is federal survey work, university and extension guides, and interagency reports. The counts are below. Every reviewed line sits behind a record or a search, with the sources standing behind its record.
How to read this
A line is cited as precisely as someone checked it.
Where a reviewer traced a line to the pages that carry it, the line names those pages and, when the evidence is narrower than the record, where it comes from — one coast, one lake, one region. 605 of 1049 of the lines below are traced that way. The rest show the sources standing behind their whole record, marked “record’s sources”, because nobody has yet checked which page carried which line, and printing a single citation there would be a mapping nobody made.
National
52
A federal or national government body — USGS, NOAA, EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Park Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
State
109
A state, provincial or commonwealth natural-resources department. Most of this carrier rests here, which suits it: these are the bodies that survey the water the records describe.
Interagency
12
A commission or joint survey run across several agencies, such as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's forage task groups.
University
45
A university research programme, cooperative extension service or Sea Grant office. Published work, but not the agency that manages the water.
Journal
6
A peer-reviewed paper, or a curated scientific register such as the World Register of Marine Species. Added with the 2026-09-25 evidence review, which went to the primary study where no agency page said what a claim needed.
Probe leftovers
What the weekly check could not treat as ordinary.
These addresses are still the citations. The check named what it saw. None of them is a gone page in the MISIN sense, so the records were not rewritten to hide a redirect, a timeout, or a bot wall.
Iowa DNR — BluegillMoved
The cited address answers through a permanent redirect. GET on the page that lands still names Bluegill.
A same-site move that still names the animal is not the MISIN case. The citation stays until a reviewer reads the new address into the record.
CASG — market squidUnreachable from this network
The California Sea Grant market-squid page times out from the probe network.
NOAA still covers the same animal on this record. The CASG address stays; a timeout is not a reason to drop a citation.
Mass.gov — menhaden and longfin squidRefused the probe
Both creature-feature pages answered 403 from the probe network.
A bot wall is not evidence the page is gone. The citations stay; the weekly check does not fail the build on unverifiable.
Michigan DNR — crayfish identification PDFRefused the probe
The cited PDF answered 403 from the probe network.
A refused PDF is not a 404. The citation stays on the crayfish record until a reviewer can open it.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute — silversidesRefused the probe
The Menidia page answered 500 from the probe network.
A 500 is not a 404, and it is not a 403. The citation stays.
Claims
Every reviewed line in the app.
Midge (non-biting) →30 lines
- What you can seesoft-bodied larva with a distinct sclerotized head capsuleNMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC, MACROINVERTEBRATES-ORG-CHIRONOMUS
- What you can seepair of anterior prolegs under the head and posterior prolegs on the last segment (no segmented true legs)WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, MACROINVERTEBRATES-ORG-CHIRONOMUS, NOAA-GLERL-WATER-LIFE-FIELD-GUIDE
- What you can seeoften held in a C- or J-shape when collectedNMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC
- What you can seeno long filamentous tails comparable to mayfly or stonefly cerciNOAA-GLERL-WATER-LIFE-FIELD-GUIDE
- What you can seemost live free or in fixed tubes of fine sediment and mucus; portable cases occur but are far less common than fixed sheltersMDC-MIDGES, ZOOKEYS-CHIRONOMID-TUBES
- What argues against itthree or two long tail filaments point strongly away from Chironomidaerecord’s sources
- What argues against ita portable case of plant or mineral material with the classic caddis architecture points to Trichopterarecord’s sources
- What argues against itplate-like or feather-like abdominal gills characteristic of many mayfly nymphs are absentrecord’s sources
- What argues against itupright sailboat wings with long tails favor mayfly adults over midgesrecord’s sources
- What argues against itlarge robust form with lateral abdominal filaments and powerful mandibles is consistent with hellgrammite, not midgerecord’s sources
- Declared limitChironomidae is an enormous and morphologically diverse family; this record supports only a broad non-biting midge hypothesis.record’s sources
- Declared limitBlood-red forms get their colour from hemoglobin and live in bottom sediments, but color alone is not diagnostic.MDC-MIDGES, MACROINVERTEBRATES-ORG-CHIRONOMUS
- Declared limitThis preview never claims a current hatch, density, or fishing pattern. Size and absence of insect tails/cases are the strongest field separators.record’s sources
- Size bandlarva: 2-20 mmNMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
- Size bandadult: 2-12 mmMDC-MIDGES
- Water typeriverrecord’s sources
- Water typestreamrecord’s sources
- Water typelake-marginrecord’s sources
- Water typelake-openrecord’s sources
- Water typespringrecord’s sources
- Life stagelarvarecord’s sources
- Life stagepuparecord’s sources
- Life stageadultrecord’s sources
- Where it sitssubsurface in sediment or on vegetationrecord’s sources
- Where it sitsdriftingrecord’s sources
- Where it sitssurface film (emergence)record’s sources
- How it moveswriggling or undulatingrecord’s sources
- How it movesanchored by posterior prolegsrecord’s sources
- How it movesadult weak flight near waterrecord’s sources
- Sources disagree[object Object]record’s sources
- NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research LaboratoryNOAA-GLERL-WATER-LIFE-FIELD-GUIDE · National · read 2026-08-06
- NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research LaboratoryNOAA-GLERL-DIPTERA-CONTEXT · National · read 2026-09-25
- New Mexico State University ExtensionNMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC · University · read 2026-09-06
- West Virginia Department of Environmental ProtectionWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE · State · read 2026-08-24
- Missouri Department of ConservationMDC-MIDGES · State · read 2026-09-25
- Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Clemson University (macroinvertebrates.org)MACROINVERTEBRATES-ORG-CHIRONOMUS · University · read 2026-09-25
- Pensoft Publishers (ZooKeys 906, 2020)ZOOKEYS-CHIRONOMID-TUBES · Journal · read 2026-09-25
- Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)JOVE-CHIRONOMID-PUPAL-EXUVIAE · Journal · read 2026-09-25
- University of Minnesota, Chironomidae Research GroupUMN-WINTER-CHIRONOMIDAE · University · read 2026-09-25
- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental ProtectionPA-DEP-BLACK-FLY-BIOLOGY · State · read 2026-09-06
The pages themselves
All 224, and what each one is holding up.
- Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Clemson University (macroinvertebrates.org)
MACROINVERTEBRATES-ORG-CHIRONOMUS
- Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)
JOVE-CHIRONOMID-PUPAL-EXUVIAE
- Missouri Department of Conservation
MDC-MIDGES
- New Mexico State University Extension
NMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC
- NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA-GLERL-DIPTERA-CONTEXT
- NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA-GLERL-WATER-LIFE-FIELD-GUIDE
- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
PA-DEP-BLACK-FLY-BIOLOGY
- Pensoft Publishers (ZooKeys 906, 2020)
ZOOKEYS-CHIRONOMID-TUBES
- University of Minnesota, Chironomidae Research Group
UMN-WINTER-CHIRONOMIDAE
- West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
Next