[341] Tipula Species, Crane Flies

[341] Tipula oleracea, Tipula paludosa

Tipula maxima, Tipula vittata

Introduction

Tipula oleracea, the Marsh Crane Fly; Tipula paludosa, the European Crane Fly; Tipula maxima and Tipula vittata are four common and widespread species of crane fly found in Britain.

There are over a thousand species of Tipula, of which nearly twenty may be seen in Britain. Most of species of Tipula are just called crane flies without a more precise common name. This is also true of about 15 000 species within the wider family Tipulidae.

In the UK crane flies are informally called ‘daddy-longlegs,’ a name used elsewhere for [258] the Cellar Spider and for Opiliones, Harvestmen. The larvae of crane flies are generally called leatherjackets.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Diptera

Suborder – Nematocera

Infraorder – Tipulomorpha

Superfamily – Tipuloidea

Family – Tipulidae (Crane Flies)

Subfamily – Tipulinae

Tribe – Tipulini

Genus – Tipula

Subgenera – Tipula and Acutipula

Scientific Names – See text

Name

Crane flies in general are named from their long legs after [166] the Crane.

The Latin tipula was a water spider. Oleracea means related to vegetables or herbs; paludosa means swampy; maxima means largest; and vittata means banded.

Tipula

See [235] Nephrotoma for Crane Flies in general. Tipula species are similar in size, with bodies about two to three centimetres in length. Their bodies are more or less plain, drab grey or brown. There are about 2 500 species within the genus, divided into 40 subgenera, and I won’t attempt to describe the differences.

I am hoping that the next three pictures are Tipula oleracea, Tipula paludosa and Tipula vittata.

Here are two close-ups from Tipula oleracea. The first one shows a haltere, one of the modified wings that define Diptera. The next one shows the pointed ovipositor that distinguishes females from males.

Tipula oleracea adults appear in early summer and a second generation appears around September. The short-lived adults can only eat liquid food such as nectar from flowers. They lay eggs in open grassland and each female can lay about a thousand eggs. Mostly living underground, the larvae eat decaying vegetable matter and delicate roots and can be agricultural pests. They pupate underground. The second generation hibernates until spring. Other species are similar.

Habitat

All four species are common all over Europe and wider areas. All are common and widespread over the UK.

Other Notes

My very early memories are of craneflies coming into our house but I don’t see this as much now as sixty years ago. I see them mostly now in open grassland, generally just crawling around on low vegetation at ground level. I’m afraid I can’t always identify the species.

See also

The family of Crane Flies also includes the genus Nephrotoma, which we have seen. Apart from these two genera most species seen in the UK are much smaller.

[334] Tabanus sudeticus, Dark Giant Horse-fly and Other Horse-flies

[334] Tabanus sudeticus, Dark Giant Horse-fly and other Horse-Flies

Introduction

Tabanus sudeticus, the Dark Giant Horse-fly (or Horsefly) is one of about thirty species of Horse-flies found in the UK. Tabanus bromius and Haematopota pluvialis are two other common species.

Worldwide there are about 5 000 species in the family Tabanidae, of which about 1 300 are in the genus Tabanus.

Species in the family may be called Horse-flies, Gad-flies or Clegs, and sometimes when more appropriate locally Deer-flies, Buffalo-flies, Moose-flies or Elephant-flies.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insecta

Order – Diptera (Flies)

Suborder – Brachycera

Infraorder – Tabanomorpha

Superfamily – Tabanoidea

Family – Tabanidae (Horse-flies)

Subfamily – Tabaninae (Horse-flies)

Tribe – Tabanini, Haematopotini

Genus – Tabanus, Haematopota

Scientific Names – See text

Name

Cleg, clegg or gleg is a dialectical word from Scotland and the North of English for horse-flies, coming from old Norse. Gad, also from Old Norse, means a spike (cognate with goad) so a gad-fly is a spike-fly.

Tabanus is the Classical Latin word for these flies. Sudeticus comes from the Sudeten geographical area (now at the intersection of Germany, Poland and Czechia.) Haematopota means blood-drinker.

Horse-flies

Male Horse-flies have weak mouthparts and just feed on nectar from flowers.

The female flies have mouthparts formed into a sharp stabbing organ with two pairs of cutting blades, and a spongelike part to lap up the blood. She feeds on the blood of cattle, horses and other animals. Her saliva contains an anticoagulant to prevent the blood clotting.

Females can feed on nectar but they need to feed on blood before laying her eggs. It can take her six days to digest a blood meal.

They have large compound eyes. In female flies the eyes are separated but in males the two eyes almost touch.

I won’t go into other significant features or differences between species.

Larvae are tubular in form and generally aquatic or semi-aquatic. They are carnivorous, eating worms, other insects and arthropods, and can be cannibalistic. They move to drier locations to pupate.

Tabanus sudeticus

This the heaviest fly in Europe, is found over most of western Europe.

Tabanus bromius

Sometimes called the Band-eyed Brown Horse-fly, this is one of the smaller species of Tabanus. It is widespread in Europe and also found in North Africa and the Middle East.

Haematopota pluvialis

Sometimes called the Common Horse-fly or Notch-horned Cleg Fly, this fly is found in most of Europe and much of Asia except the south-east.

I think this fly landing on me five years ago was one of the things that led me more into the macro photography of insects.

Other Notes

Although horses and cattle are the main targets, female horse-flies will also bite humans for their blood.

See also

I don’t normally attempt to spot and identify flies because it is too difficult. There are hundreds of families and it isn’t always easy even to identify to family level. Species level identification often involves microscopic examination of genital structures. 

[333] Syrphus ribesii and Other Hoverflies

[333] Syrphus ribesii and Other Hoverflies

Introduction

Syrphus ribesii is one of about 6 000 species in the 200 genera that make up the family Syrphidae called Hoverflies (or Flower Flies.) Most of them don’t have common names. Syrphus and Eristalis are two of the main genera.

About 250 species of hoverfly are commonly seen in the UK. I have recorded over thirty species, mostly seen in my back garden. Most species are primarily black and yellow striped with transparent wings and they are best identified as hoverflies by their wing vein structure.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Diptera (Flies)

Suborder – Brachycera

Infraorder – Muscomorpha

Clade – Aschiza

Superfamily – Syrphoidea

Family – Syrphidae

The family is divided into subfamilies, tribes and subtribes.

Syrphus and Eristalis (about 100 species) are two fairly common genera. Many other genera have names derived from syrphus.

Names

Hoverflies really do hover very well and they do it often.

The Ancient Greek surphos was a gnat or winged ant. (You remember that U and Y are often interchangeable in Greek words.)

Eristalis has been used as the name of a genus since 1804, with no apparent etymology. It was so unknown that for two hundred years its grammatical gender was uncertain. In 1901 it was asserted as masculine but many countries still treated it as feminine. In 1993 it was officially confirmed as masculine. But around 2005 the word was found as an existing feminine Latin word referring to an unknown precious stone – so it is now officially feminine. The grammatical gender sometimes affects the ending of the species epithet. (The spelling of a genus or species can’t be changed just because it is incorrect but species epithets are changed to get the Latin gender right.) See Taxonomy and Names.

Hoverflies

You can read a little about flies in general at [053] Bee Fly. Hoverflies are often seen hovering perfectly. Adults almost all feed on nectar and pollen from flowers. Larvae, often called maggots, can feed on decaying vegetation and animals, other insects or plants.

The species vary in size but many are colourful, often mimicking other insects. A large proportion of them have yellow stripes making them look somewhat like bees or wasps.

The general way to identify a fly as a hoverfly is by two structures in the veins of their transparent wings.

• Veins merge to a false edge, a vein running parallel to the edge of the wings.
• A spurious vein runs parallel to the fourth longitudinal wing vein.

The family Syrphidae is divided into three subfamilies and several tribes. The main tribes are Syrphini (in the subfamily Syrphinae) and Eristalini (within Eristalinae.)

Individual Species

Sometimes identification to species is fairly easy from a good photograph and sometimes it’s impossible. If you want to tell the species apart, expect to have to examine every part of the body including every segment of every leg for colour, and count the spikes and hairs on every segment of every leg.

Some genera need microscopic surgical examination, usually on the genitalia, to determine species. Sometimes females are easy and males need close examination – or vice versa. (Male flies generally have much larger compound eyes that meet in the middle.)

All of my pictures are identified, or at least confirmed, by checks in the Facebook group on British Hoverflies. In most cases I will show you the pictures and tell you the species without saying any more. By an amazing coincidence I seem to have all the very common species!

[A] Syrphus Species

There are dozens of species of Syrphus, all looking very similar. Syrphus ribesii, Syrphus torvus and Syrphus vitripennis are common in the UK, of which S ribesii is most often seen. Females are easier to identify than males without microscopic examination.

[B] Eristalis Species

There are about a hundred species of Eristalis, often called Drone Flies because of their superficial resemblance to [029] Honey Bees. The common British species are Eristralis arbustorum, Eristalis pertinax and Eristalis tenax, shown below.

Their larvae, called rat-tailed maggots, are aquatic.

[C] Others

• Cheilosia illustrata

• Chrysogaster solstitalis

• Epistrophe elegans

• Episyrphus balteatus, Marmalade Fly

• Eupeodes corollae

Eupeodes nitens is also seen in the UK.

• Helophilus pendulus, Sun Fly

The name Helo-philus pendulus, from Greek and Latin roots actually means dangling marsh-lover, but it is often called the Sun Fly because of confusion between helo- and helio-. Unsurprisingly, it is sometimes mis-spelled.

This fly is much more common than Helophilus trivittatus and Helophilus hybridus, which are also seen in the UK.

• Melanostoma scalare

• Meliscaeva auricollis

• Myathropa florea

• Parasyrphus punctulatus

• Rhyngia campestris

This is very distinctive. All species of Rhingia have a distinctive long snout that enables them to feed from, types of flowers inaccessible to other flies.

Rhyngia rostrata is also seen.

• Sphaerophoria scripta, the Long Hoverfly

The first picture above is a male. The other two are female.

• Xanthogramma pedissequum

Other Notes

You will see hoverflies everywhere and you may be able to learn to identify some species.

See also

The largest hoverflies you are likely to see in the UK are [205] Leucozona and [361] Volucella, which is still to come.

[310] Scathophaga stercoria, Yellow Dung Fly

[310] Scathophaga stercoraria, Yellow Dung Fly

Introduction

Scathophaga stercoraria, the Yellow Dung Fly, is a very common fly found throughout the World wherever there is agricultural livestock. It plays an important role in the natural decomposition of dung.

It may also be called the Golden Dung Fly.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Diptera (Flies)

Suborder – Brachycera

Infraorder – Muscomorpha

Section – Schizophora

Subsection – Calyptrates

Superfamily – Muscoidea

Family – Scathophagidae (Dung Flies)

Subfamily – Scathophaginae

Genus – Scathophaga

Scientific Name – Scathophaga stercoraria

Name

Scathophaga comes from Latinized Ancient Greek scato-phaga meaning dung-eating. Stercoraria seems to be another Latin word relating to dung.

Flies

The time has come to consider the world of Flies. We start, of course, by excluding Butterflies, Damselflies, [036] and [046] Sawflies, [247] Scorpionflies, Caddisflies, Alderflies and all the other insects that have acquired the word ‘fly’ as part of their name, but are not true flies.

There may be as many as a million species within Diptera, of which about 150 000 have been formally identified so far. They undergo full metamorphosis. Larvae may be parasitic, affecting molluscs, millipedes, insects, mammals or amphibians, or may feed on plant matter, fungi, or dead matter. Many larval species are aquatic. Some species of fly have larvae that develop, and even go through moults, before emerging from the mother to pupate immediately. The larvae of some types of flies are called maggots.

For most species the adult stage is short, just long enough to mate and lay eggs (a fate shared with many other insect species.)

Some of the more recognizable and well-known subdivisions include the following.

• Crane Flies. See [235] Nephrotoma and [341] Tipula
• Mosquitos, Midges and Gnats. Small and generally unwelcome because they fly around in large numbers. Some, but not all species are biting. Mosquitos form a single family but midges and gnats are loosely defined terms covering several families and several thousand species.
• Fruit Flies. Even smaller than midges and gnats, another 5 000 species.
• Horse Flies. These are the largest ones you will see in the UK. See [334].
• Hoverflies – considered in [205] Leucozona and [361] Volucella but mostly in [333] Syrphus.
• House Flies. About 4 000 species in the family Muscidae are the ordinary insects that look like typical flies and can be seen in and around houses.
• Blow flies such as bluebottles. Calliphoridae are fairly similar to Muscidae and some are common outside houses.

It won’t surprise you that taxonomy is sometimes uncertain and changing, and some long-established families and other groups may be polyphyletic.

Because it appeared earlier, I have to mention [053] the Bee Fly.

I have excluded most flies from these blogs because they are numerous and complex. At least 7 000 species may be found in the UK and most can only be identified to species level with the help of microscopic examination of their genitalia and other parts.

Description

The family Scathophagidae are called Dung Flies although only a few species of Scathophaga spend their larval stages in dung.

Scathophaga stercoraria males are golden yellow in colour with orange-yellow fur on their front legs. Females are a little smaller, duller in colour with some green-brown tinges and no brightly coloured fur on their legs.

The adults of Scathophaga stercoraria feed on other insects, mostly smaller flies. Females forage in vegetation and only visit dung to mate and lay their eggs. The males stay on the dung waiting for females.

Eggs are laid in the dung and the larvae feed on it. They burrow below it to pupate.

Habitat

Scathophaga stercoraria is common over much of the Northern Hemisphere and is found where there are wild or farmed [130] horses, [054] cattle, [245] sheep, [077] deer, [328] pigs or wild boar. Their preferred habitat is fresh cattle dung.

See also

See the text above for some other flies. You may be able identify some without microscopic dissection as long you have a good enough camera to be able to count the hairs on their legs.

[205] Leucozona lucorum, a Hoverfly

[205] Leucozona lucorum, a Hoverfly

Introduction

Leucozona lucorum is a relatively large, colourful type of hoverfly. Like most species of insects, it has no common name.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Diptera (Flies)

Family– Syrphidae (Hoverflies)

Subfamily – Syrphinae

Tribe – Syrphini

Genus – Leucozona

Subgenus – Leucozona

Scientific Name – Leucozona lucorum

Name

Leucozona comes from Greek roots leuko-zone meaning white-belt. Lucorum means ‘of the woods.’

Description

You will have to wait until [333] Syrphus for a general description of hoverflies. As this is a few months I will give you a couple of clues.

• They do hover a lot.
• Look at the wing veins.

Leucozona lucorum is among the largest of the 250 species of hoverflies found in the UK and one of the most easily recognized. It has a black tail and a thick white strip across its back. The front part of its body is a hairy orange-brown. There is a dark spot on its clear wings.

Hoverflies are generally colourful and may mimic other insect species. Leucozona lucorum bears a superficial resemblance to some [052] Bumble Bees. It is herbivorous and is generally found on flowers.

Habitat

Leucozona lucorum is found over almost the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. It is generally seen in or near deciduous forests or untended grassland.

Other Notes

As I have said before, one of the best ways to find insects is to look on and in open flowers in the summer. They are generally far too busy looking for food (or for similar insects of the opposite sex) to worry about being photographed.

See also

There are several more flies to come.

[053] Bombylius major, Bee Fly

[053] Bombylius major, Bee Fly

Introduction

Bombylius major, the Bee Fly, is a medium sized fly, superficially resembling a bumble bee.

We have the usual problem. As there are about 5 000 species in the Bee Fly family, we have to be a bit more specific. It’s the Large Bee-fly or Dark-edged Bee-fly. There are one or two other bee flies (or bee-flies) that are seen very rarely in Britain but this one is usually just known as the Bee Fly.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Diptera

Suborder – Brachycera

Superfamily – Asiloidea

Family – Bombyliidae

Subfamily – Bombiliinae

Genus – Bombylius

Scientific Name – Bombylius Major

Name

Bombilius presumably comes from Bombus, the Bumble Bee genus.

Flies

This is our first fly, one of about a million species. The Order Diptera is named (‘two-wings’) from the wing structure of flies. They only have one pair of wings with which they fly. The other pair are modified into tiny ‘halteres,’ which act like gyroscopes and enable aerobatic manoeuvring in flight.

Flies are diverse and include craneflies, horse flies, hoverflies, house flies, flesh flies, gnats, mosquitos and midges. They are fully metabolous and generally have good eyesight.

Bombyliidae

Just to give you an idea of numbers, there are about 200 families of flies and Bombyliidae has 5 000 species in hundreds of genera, mostly called bee flies. They vary in size but all are parasitic and host specific. 450 species come under the genus Bombylius.

Description

The body of the Bee Fly is dark but it covered in hairs which make it look a light brown. Its wings are dark at the front and light towards the rear with an undulating border. It has long legs that dangle in flight and a very long proboscis that it uses to extract nectar from flowers. It often hovers in flight.

The adult flies are seen from April to June. They have several host species including [024] the Mining Bees (and other solitary bees and wasps.) The female fly hovers over the bee’s open nest and flicks her eggs into it.

The larvae are hypermetamorphic parasitoids, which feed on the stored food and the young bees. This means that the first instar is a mobile form seeking out the food source for the main development.

Sometimes the female fly lays her eggs on the flowers visited by the host species. Developing larvae then find a nest or attach themselves to the bee to be carried there.

Large numbers of eggs are laid as few survive to find a host. When the larva does find a host larva it holds on tightly as it eats it. The pupa overwinters.

Habitat

Bombylius major is found in temperate Europe and North America and some parts of Asia.

Other Notes

I have seen them in my garden. I have also seen them among a large number of mining bees making their nests.

See also

If you are feeling sorry for the bees, wait for [237] Nomad Bees.