Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Psychodomorpha » Primitive Crane Flies (Tanyderidae)

Family Tanyderidae - Primitive Crane Flies

ornate winged bug - Protoplasa fitchii - female

unknown insect - Protoplasa fitchii - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

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

Infraorder Psychodomorpha

Family Tanyderidae (Primitive Crane Flies)

Explanation of Names

Tanyderidae Osten Sacken 1880

Numbers

4 spp. in 2 genera in our area(1), 55 spp. in 12 genera total(2)

Identification

Tanyderidae resemble crane flies. They can be differentiated from phantom crane flies by the presence of vein 3a, winter crane flies by the absence of ocelli, and crane flies by the presence of 5 R veins.

Range

Protoplasa fitchii the only species in the east, Protanyderus (3 spp.) are western; most of the remaining genera are precinctive to various parts of the southern hemisphere(3)(4)

Habitat

Larvae in the sandy soil at the margins of large streams(3); adults can be found hanging during the day from riparian vegetation near streams; adult males sometimes swarm in great numbers, especially in the evenings(4)

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.	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.

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

Contributed by Keith Bayless on 10 March, 2007 - 8:00pm
Additional contributions by v belov
Last updated 26 December, 2014 - 7:09pm

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