Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Bibio

March Fly - Bibio articulatus - male Robber fly? - Bibio femoratus March Fly - Bibio lanigerus - male unknown insect - Bibio xanthopus - female A hymenopteran??? - Bibio femoratus - female Bibio albipennis ? - Bibio - male Bibio NRV - Bibio albipennis - male Maybe Bibio vestitus? - Bibio lanigerus - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera))
Infraorder Bibionomorpha (Gnats, Gall Midges, and March Flies)
Family Bibionidae (March Flies)
Genus Bibio
Explanation of Names
Bibio Geoffroy 1762
Numbers
32 spp. in our area, ~200 total(1)
Identification
Long, thick spurs on adult protibiae distinctive. Larvae have two openings in the posterior spiracle, compared to one in Penthetria and three in Dilophus. Wing venation has Rs (or R5) unforked, shared with Dilophus and distinct from the other genera in the family.
Wing venation (note that R-M is shorter in the illustration than is typical of the genus):

Posterior spiracle:

see (2)
Range
Worldwide, but mostly holarctic (about half of the spp. are Palaearctic), poorly represented in warmer climes(1)
Print References
(3)(4)
Works Cited
1.Evolution and classification of Bibionidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha)
Fitzgerald S.J. 2005. Ph.D. Thesis, Oregon State U. 385 pp.
2.Revision of Nearctic Bibionidae including Neotropical Plecia and Penthetria (Diptera)
Hardy D.E. 1945. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 30(15): 367-555.
3.Notes on Nearctic Bibio (Diptera: Bibionidae)
Fitzgerald S.J. 1996. Proc. Ent Soc. Wash. 98: 50-54.
4.Additional Notes on Nearctic Bibio Geoffroy (Diptera: Bibionidae)
Fitzgerald S.J. 1997. Proc. Ent Soc. Wash. 99: 294-304.