NEMATOCERA, Ptychopteromorpha, Ptychopteroidea

Number of British species: 7

Size: M

Difficulty: 1

Scheme: Covered by the Cranefly recording scheme

Medium sized to large (7-15 mm), slender, black lustrous Nematocera, often with lighter markings on thorax and/or abdomen. Antennae, wings, abdomen and legs long and slender. ocelli absent; antenna with 15 to a segments. Thorax with deep, posteriorly directed transverse suture. Wing with markings, in particular along the crossveins and where veins bifurcate; spurious vein present on either side of crossvein R-M and wing membrane with a distinct fold between veins Al and CuA₂.

The larvae are aquatic to semi-aquatic, living in muddy water, shallow pools in marshes, Sphagnum pools, or the margins of streams. They filter-feed on small organic particles. They are connected with the air through a long ventilation tube at the end of the abdomen. The adults live in marshy and moist habitats, near suitable substrates for the larvae as well as quite some distance from the larval habitat.

Coe et al. (1950), Stubbs (1993)