Family Dixidae - Meniscus Midges

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Works Cited

Winter Crane Fly? - Dixella nova - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

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

Infraorder Culicomorpha (Mosquitoes and Midges)

Family Dixidae (Meniscus Midges)

Explanation of Names

Dixidae Schiner 1868

Numbers

42 spp. in 3 genera in our area(1), ~200 spp. in 9 genera total(2)

Size

body 4-8 mm

Identification

Adult: body yellowish to dark brown; wings without scales, with sparse hairs, R2+3 strongly arched; antennae with sparse hairs; proboscis short; Sc complete; ocelli absent

Larva: aquatic, eucephalic, with several distinctive features (crowns, combs, terminal complex) widely used in identification of species groups; individuals rest in characteristic U-shaped position at water meniscus

Range

all continents except Antarctica(3); in our area, mostly northern; species are not widespread(1)

Habitat

adults are poor fliers and can be found near larval habitat resting on emergent or overhanging vegetation; larvae lie in the meniscus or crawl out of the water on rocks, moss, or emergent vegetation(3); Dixella larvae live in stagnant water; Dixa prefer running waters

Food

adults do not feed; larvae are filter feeders(3)

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.	Evenhuis N.L. (ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian regions (online version)

Contributed by Keith Bayless on 24 June, 2008 - 1:33pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, v belov
Last updated 25 December, 2014 - 10:46pm

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