The Cylindrotomidae or long-bodied craneflies are a family of
crane flies. More than 65 extant
species in 9 genera occur worldwide.[1] There are more than 20 extinct species.[2]
Most recent classifications place the group to family level. This was not supported by
phylogenetic analyses by Petersen et al. in 2010,[3] but several studies and catalogs have since treated the group as a family, and they remain an established family.[4][5][1][6][7][8]
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
larvae are all
phytophagous (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, during the Jurassic,[9] there are no fossils of the group known until the
Paleogene, 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, with fossil species diversity centered in
Baltic Amber and western North American compression faunas such as the
Green River Formation and
Florissant Formation. Additional species are known from the older
Fur Formation,
Kishenehn Formation,[10] and undescribed specimens are known from the
Eocene Okanagan Highlands.[11]
^Petersen, M.J.; Bertone, M.A.; Wiegmann, B.M.; Courtney, G.W. 2010: Phylogenetic synthesis of morphological and molecular data reveals new insights into the higher-level classification of Tipuloidea (Diptera). Systematic entomology, 35: 526-545. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00524.x
^
abSchiner, I. R. (1863). "Vorlaufiger Commentar zum dipterologischen Theile der "Fauna Austriaca", mit einer naheren Begrundung der in derselben aufgenommenen neuen Dipteren-Gattungen. V. [concl]". Wiener Entomologische Monatschrift. 7: 217–226.