The Crane Flies of California - Essig Museum of Entomology ...

2 Bulletin of the California Insect Survey
virtually restricted to the west and is greatly
developed in California, with nine of the thirteen
Nearctic species known from the state. The largest
tribe of the subfamily, the Eriopterini, shows an
abundance of species in certain genera such as
Gonomyia, Erioptera, OnnoSia, and Molophilus, and
is comparable in this respect to eastern North
America. A small number of genera and subgenera
occurring in North America are restricted to the
western states and provinces, including especially
Zdiognophomyia, Gonomyia (Euptilmtena), Hesperownopa,
Gonomyodes, and Ormosia (Rhypholophus),
all with representatives in California.
HABITS AND OCCURRENCE
Crane flies have a notable preference for moist
conditions, and the majority of the species occur in
humid woods, commonly along streams or other
bodies of water. The adult flies may be found resting
on herbage and other plants and are most readily
obtained by sweeping the vegetation in such haunts.
Numerous species are to be found by following the
course of a mountain stream or comparable habitat.
The early stages of many of the flies so taken are to
be found in or close to a stream or other body of
water. However in any collection of adults along a
mountain stream, for example, the immature stages
of the species captured may have occurred in the
stream, in the moist soil along the margins, in wet
moss clumps nearby, under damp leaf mold in the
adjoining forest, in decaying wood, in fungi, or in
various other habitats. Where the early stages are
known, they commonly frequent the following types
of habitats:
1. Strictly aquatic species in fresh water, especially rapidly
flowing str-Ant&;
CryptoZabis; probably Hesperoconopa.
2. Marine, in the intertidal zone along the shorpLimonia
(IdioBfochina).
3. Aquatic for part of the larval stage, going to the stream
margins or dryar areas for pupation-various species of
Tipula; Limonia; Thaumastoptera; many Pediciini and
Hexatomini; some Eriopterini.
4. Hygropetric, living on the steep or vertical faces of c1Ss
or rocks; in or beneath a layer or scum of algal growth,
constantly wet through slow-flowing or percolating waters;
or in more rapidly flowing strenms under somewhat
comparable conditiontivarious species of Limonia (as
defuncta com*nna, humidicola, homichlophila, and
others); Elliptera; and others.
5. In or beneath wet or saturated cushions of mosses or
liverworts growing on earth or mcks-Dolichopza (Byers
1961)- in aquatic mosses.
6. In wet to saturate dvaying wood, the larvae commonly
feeding on fungoua growth in the habitst-ctenophra;
Lipsothrix; Gnophomyia; Teucfiolabis; and others.
7. In rich organic earth or mud, as along stream or lake
margins or in swamps and marshes; in masses of leaf-drift
at stream borders; in wet spots in woods, living in the
saturated humus soil- preferred habitat for numerous
genera and species.
8. Sandy, gravelly, or loamy soils with moderate humus, as
along stream bord-Rhabdomastix; Gonomyia; and
ethers.
9. In decaying plant materials, such as leaves, stems, or
10.
fruits in various stages of putrefaction.
In fungi, both woody and fleahy-Limonia (Metalimmbia)
califomica; Ula.
11. In organic matter accumulated in the nesoi of birds and
mammals.
12. Feeding on the leaves of terrestrial higher plants and
moss-members of the subfamily Cyliindrotominae (not
yet found in California, but regianal).
13. In relatively dry open soil, as in pastures and on the
ranges-lliephmtoma; several species of Tipula, with
certain of these of economic importance in the state,
being the so-called “range crane flies.”
Elsewhere in the world there are still other more
specialized habitats, including species living in water
that has gathered in tree holes; in water reservoirs
in the sheathing leaves of various monocotyledonous
plants, as Liliaceae and Bromeliaceae; and a few
species in the Pacific islands with leaf-mining larvae.
A great pmportion of the species found in California
has not been reared, and some interesting discoveries
may be expected. The genus Phyllolabis remains
unknown and the immature stages may prove to be
of unusual interest
Papers by Alexander (1920, 1931), Byers (1961),
and Hynes (1963,1965) may be consulted, especially
for additional references and bibliographies that are
provided
HISTORICAL
The Nineteenth Century-The earliest collections of
crane flies in California apparently were those made
by Alexander Agassiz (1859 and later), described by
k w and Osten Sacken, including a few of the best
known species (Holorusia rubiginma Loew, Tipula
(Beringotipula) fallax Loew, T. (Triplicitipula)
pubera Loew, Limonia (Metalimnobia) californica
(0. S.), and L. (Zdioglmhha) marmorata (0. S.).
Henry Edwards (1853 and later) added a few further
species, including Ctenophora (Phoroctenia) vittata
angustipnnis Loew and Tipula (Triplicitipula)
praecisa hew.
In 1876 C. R. Osten Sacken, the first outstanding
student of the Tipulidae, spent nearly a year in California
(see his Record of My Lifework in Entomology,
third part, pp. 205-242, Heidelberg, Germany,
1904). He left Massachusetts on November 27, 1875,
arrived in California on December 27, 1875, and