240 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Classification of the Tipulidae or crane flies 



It has been one of the great pleasures of my brief study of the 

 TipuHdae to note the broad and cathoHc spirit in which Baron Osten 

 Sacken studied them and dealt with their classification. I do not 

 always trust the characters he used, but he did not use them slav- 

 ishly. He was always searching for further light, always open to 

 conviction. I am encouraged to oft'er a few further notes on his 

 several sections or tribes, by the following invitation contained in 

 his monograph [p. 25] : " The more characters peculiar to each 

 one of the sections we accumulate, the stronger we render the basis 

 on which the classification is established, and the easier the solution 

 we prepare for all future doubtful cases. In this respect a great 

 deal yet remains to be done." 



The primary division of crane flies into two families, based 

 originally and mainly on the profound differences in the larvae, finds 

 its venational justification in the distinct behavior of the radial 

 sector and the median vein, as illustrated in figures 14 and 15, and 

 in the absence of a second anal vein in the Ptychopteridae and its 

 presence in Tipulidae. 



Ptychopteridae 



The Tanyderinae are distinguished by the possession of the full 

 complement of branches of the radial vein. They are in this respect 

 the most generalized of Diptera. Idioplasta is our only representa- 

 tive of the group, which, like many other archaic groups, finds its 

 other representatives in the antipodes (Chili and Australian region), 

 and in fossil remains. 



The Ptychopterinae have the radial sector reduced to three 

 branches but with R'* and R^ remaining separate however, and they 

 are further distinguished by the absence of Sc^, by a better de- 

 veloped cord, by the brevity of the base of the radial se::tor, and by 

 the sinuosity of Cu- — all marks of specialization. 



Tipulidae 

 The Tipulinae are distinguished from other Tipulidae by the loss 

 of Sc^, the skewing of R" forward, carrying the cross vein r often 

 into a longitudinal position, and the slight tendency toward fusion 

 of Cu^ with M^. Within this group the tribe Dolichopezinae ap- 

 pears to be marked off by a tendency of the first fork of media to 

 progress outward beyond the cross vein m-cu. I have seen too few 

 representatives of the other tribes of this subfamily, but they are 

 based on antennal characters; for which I have found no vena- 

 tional counterparts. 



