Tipulidae

Tipulidae
Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Recent
Tipulidae, large crane fly
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Infraorder: Tipulomorpha
Superfamily: Tipuloidea
Family: Tipulidae
Latreille, 1802
Subfamilies
The maxillary palps are the appendages that extend from the front of the head, then down and back, terminating below the eye.

Tipulidae is a family of large crane flies in the order Diptera. There are more than 30 genera and 4,200 described species in Tipulidae, common and widespread throughout the world.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Nephrotoma, tiger crane fly

A crane fly can usually be identified as a member of Tipulidae by its maxillary palps, which is the pair appendages that hang down from the front of its head. If the fourth segment (the farthest from the body) of the maxillary palp is longer than the other three combined, then it is likely to be a member of Tipulidae. Also, there are usually 13 segments in the antennae of large crane flies, compared to 14 or 16 in the common limoniid crane flies.[3]

The oldest fossils that can be assigned confidently to Tipulidae sensu stricto are those of the genus Tipunia, which date to the Late Jurassic.[8][9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference itis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference catlife was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference bugguide was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kolcsár2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Oosterbroek2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Zhang2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pape2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Lukashevich, Elena D.; Ribeiro, Guilherme C. (2019-04-18). "Mesozoic fossils and the phylogeny of Tipulomorpha (Insecta: Diptera)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 17 (8): 635–652. doi:10.1080/14772019.2018.1448899. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 89966924.
  9. ^ Kopeć, Katarzyna; Soszyńska, Agnieszka; Coram, Robert A.; Krzemiński, Wiesław (July 2023). "New species of the enigmatic genus Tipunia (Diptera, Tipulidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Kazakhstan and Lower Cretaceous of England". Cretaceous Research. 147: 105512. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105512. S2CID 257262387.