|
| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Diptera |
~Tipulidae
Daddy-long-legs, Crane-flies.
Adult insects. Slender-bodied; stilt-legged. The legs readily shed. Antennae 8–16 segmented; ‘simple’. The maxillary palps 3–5 segmented; drooping. Thorax with the dorsal suture continuous across the middle (and V-shaped). The dorsal suture neither V-shaped nor U-shaped. Wings with a discal cell; without a sub-apical cell; without a closed anal cell. Wing vein 6 present; reaching the wing margin. Wing vein 7 present; reaching the wing margin. Wings with the lower calypter much reduced or absent.
Larvae and pupae. The larvae aquatic, or terrestrial; phytophagous; eucephalic (caterpillar-like). The pupae without a puparium.
Classification. Suborder Nematocera; Division Tipulomorpha; Superfamily Tipuloidea.
British representation. 4 species in Britain. Genera 4; Cylindrotoma, Diogma, Phalacrocera, Triogma.
Illustrations. • Cylindrotoma and Diogma (from Walker). 1a and 1b, Cylindrotoma distinctissima, wing (1a) and antenna (1b). 8, Diogma glabrata, male. From Walker (1856, Plates XXVII and XXVIII), with approximate length of insect added.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Diptera. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
