Family Ptychopteridae - Phantom and Fold-winged Crane Flies

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Life Cycle · Works Cited

Phantom Crane Fly - Ptychoptera quadrifasciata

Unknown Fly (with mites) - Ptychoptera metallica - female

Phantom Crane Fly - Bittacomorpha clavipes

Cranefly (wasp mimic) - Ptychoptera quadrifasciata - male

Bittacomorpha clavipes? - Bittacomorpha clavipes

Phantoms - Bittacomorpha clavipes - male - female

Bittacomorpha occidentalis - Bittacomorpha clavipes

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon ("Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera))

Family Ptychopteridae (Phantom and Fold-winged Crane Flies)

Explanation of Names

Ptychopteridae Osten Sacken 1862

Numbers

16 spp. in 3 genera in our area(1), ~160 spp. in 27 genera total(2), but only three are extant(3)

Identification

See (3) for an illustrated key to species in our area (starts pg. 175).

Medium-sized flies with long legs, slow flight, esp. in Bittacomorpha, the genus most easily observed due to its slow flights.

Bittacomorpha have enlarged basitarsi.

Bittacomorphella are similar but smaller and without enlarged basitarsi.

Ptychoptera are distinct, with patterned wings and shorter legs than the other two genera.

Range

in NA, most spp. are western; globally, Ptychoptera are represented in all zoogeographic regions except Australasia and the Neotropics, Bittacomorphella is holarctic (NA + e. Asia), and Bittacomorpha is precinctive to NA(4)

Habitat

Near ponds, wetlands

Season

Summer

Life Cycle

Larvae are detritivores in mud of wetlands. Bittacomorpha clavipes, a common species of eastern North America, is seen flying slowly at eye-level, often in open areas. This sure looks like some sort of sexual display.

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

2.	Order Diptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Pape T., Blagoderov V., Mostovski M.B. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 222–229.

3.	Phylogeny and diversity of the phantom crane flies (Diptera: Ptychopteridae) Andrew Fasbender. 2014. PhD Thesis.

4.	Manual of Nearctic Diptera Volume 1 Varies for each chapter; edited by J.F. McAlpine, B.V. Petersen, G.E. Shewell, H.J. Teskey, J.R. Vockeroth, D.M. Wood. 1981. Research Branch Agriculture Canada.

Contributed by Cotinis on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Stephen_WV, Vox Sciurorum, v belov, metrioptera, zdanko
Last updated 9 January, 2022 - 9:56pm

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