The Cylindrotomidae or long-bodied craneflies are a family of

crane flies A crane fly is any member of the dipteran superfamily Tipuloidea, which contains the living families Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, as well as several extinct families. "Winter crane flies", members of the family T ...

. More than 65 extant

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in 9 genera occur worldwide. There are more than 20 extinct species. Most recent classifications place the group to family level. This was not supported by

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses by Petersen et al. in 2010, but several studies and catalogs have since treated the group as a family, and they remain an established family.

Description

They are mostly large flies of around 11–16 mm and yellowish to pale brownish in colour. They have long, slender antennae with 16 segments; the wings, legs and the abdomen are all very long.

Biology

The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are all

phytophagous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet (nutrition), diet. These more broadly also encompass an ...

(with the exception of the genus '' Cylindrotoma'') and are found living on terrestrial, semiaquatic and aquatic mosses. The larvae of the genus ''Cylindrotoma'' live on various flowering plants. Adults are found in damp, wooded habitats.

Evolutionary history

Although they likely split off from their closest relatives,

Tipulidae Tipulidae is a family of large Crane fly, 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. A crane fly can be identified as a member of Tipuli ...

, during the Jurassic, there are no fossils of the group known until the

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

, which belong to the living genera ''Cylindrotoma'' and '' Diogma'' and the extinct '' Cyttaromyia,'' the oldest dating to around 56 million years ago. It is likely that the family only substantially diversified during the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

, with fossil species diversity centered in

Baltic Amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

and western North American compression faunas such as the

Green River Formation The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River (Colorado River), Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The sedimen ...

and

Florissant Formation The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping around Florissant, Teller County, Colorado. The formation is noted for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones an ...

. Additional species are known from the older

Fur Formation The Fur Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian ( Lower Eocene Epoch, c. 56.0-54.5 Ma) age which crops out in the Limfjord region of northern Denmark from Silstrup via Mors and Fur to Ertebølle, and can be seen in many cliffs and ...

Kishenehn Formation The Kishenehn Formation is a Paleogene stratigraphic unit in Montana. Fossil amiiforme and teleost fish have been found in outcrops of the formation's Coal Creek Member in Glacier National Park. Mosquitos have also been found in the Coal Creek Me ...

, and undescribed specimens are known from the

Eocene Okanagan Highlands The Eocene Okanagan Highlands or Eocene Okanogan Highlands are a series of Early Eocene geological formations which span a transect of British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state, United States. Known for a highly diverse and detailed plant ...

.Wilson, M.V.H. 2009. McAbee Fossil Site Assessment Report. 60 p
Online PDF
Accessed 13 July 2023.

Classification

*Subfamily Cylindrotominae :*'' Cylindrotoma'' :*'' Diogma'' :*'' Liogma'' :*'' Phalacrocera'' :*'' Triogma'' :*†'' Cyttaromyia'' :*†'' Oryctogma'' *Subfamily Stibadocerinae :*'' Stibadocera'' :*'' Stibadocerella'' :*'' Stibadocerina'' :*'' Stibadocerodes''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1751488 Nematocera families