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Family Trichoceridae - Winter Crane Flies

winter crane fly - Trichocera garretti - male

Trichocera male - maybe T. columbiana? - Trichocera - male

fly emerging from compost - Trichocera - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

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

Infraorder Tipulomorpha (Crane Flies)

Family Trichoceridae (Winter Crane Flies)

Other Common Names

Winter Midges/Gnats

Explanation of Names

Trichoceridae Rondani 1841

Numbers

28 spp. in 3 genera in our area (all but 3 spp. are in the genus Trichocera)(1); >180 spp. in 15 genera total(2)

Identification

Often confused for true crane flies (Tipulidae) or mosquitoes (Culicidae), Trichoceridae can be distinguished by the presence of ocelli.

Wing venation:

key to NA spp. in(1)

Range

globally, confined to temperate and cool climates(3)

Habitat

Larvae in moist/wet terrestrial biotopes: decaying leaves, manure, fungi, stored roots/tubers, and rodent burrows(3)

Season

Tend to fly when cool, spring and fall, or even winter in warmer climates(3)

Food

Larvae are scavengers(3)

Life Cycle

Larvae scavenge in decaying vegetation, etc.

Remarks

Paracladura has a short m-cu crossvein between the discal cell and the forward branch of Cu. The other genera have the forward branch of Cu meeting the corner of the discal cell.

Diazosma has A2 long and sinous. The other genera have A2 short and curved.

Print References

Alexander, C. P. 1966. The Diptera or true flies of Connecticut. Part VI. First Fascicle. Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey, Bulletin 64: 1-509. (PDF)

Internet References

The Bug Lady - UW Milwaukee

The Backyard Arthropod Project

Works Cited

1.	The winter crane flies of North America north of Mexico (Diptera: Trichoceridae) Pratt H.D. 2003. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 105: 901-914.

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 Richard Leung on 9 November, 2004 - 8:23pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, xylo, Vox Sciurorum, v belov, marcie oconnor, Arturo Santos
Last updated 29 November, 2023 - 10:09am

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