Craneflies of Uig - Part 1

Up until quite recently, I'd always viewed cranefly identification as being something of a dark art, something I considered best left to professional dipterists and other assorted crazies out there. But 2020 is the year where I'm trying to tackle any flies I happen to stumble across, and that obviously includes the leggy bastards that constitute the craneflies. I have keys, I have literature, I have a wealth of online resources and I have a need to stay one step ahead of The Ghost - and he's one of those crazies that already tackles tipulids. I soon found myself wading the murky waters of tipulid ID with an open mind having made the decision to tackle whatever came my way. Which is easy to do in the opening, quieter months of the year.

So what exactly are 'tipulids'? Ok, so firstly there is a nematoceran superfamily known as Tipuloidea which houses four families, these being Tipulidae, Cylindrotomidae, Pediciidae and Limoniidae.

Tipulidae are the 'Long-palped Craneflies' with 87 British species. These are the typical 'daddy longlegs' that everybody knows. The Cylindrotomidae are the 'Long-bodied Craneflies' with just 4 British species, none of which I've knowingly seen before. Pediciidae are the 'Hairy-eyed Craneflies' with 20 British species and finally Limoniidae are the 'Short-palped Craneflies' with a huge 222 British species.  All in all that amounts to 333 species, quite a handful to get to grips with!

My cranefly year started on the 8th January with Limonia nubeculosa, a nice easy species of Limoniidae to begin with and one I've seen before. It has three dark bands on each pale yellow femur, a unique feature amongst the British cranefly fauna. I found this one skulking in the kitchen late one night. There are just a handful of previous Skye records but it is bound to be widespread. 

My second cranefly was another Limoniidae, though somewhat smaller in stature. This is Dicranomyia chorea, another nationally common species but with only two previous Skye records, both from 2009.

The upper image is of a female that I potted from beneath Mark Telfer's window sill when I was in England earlier this year. The lower image is of a male that I caught here in Uig and shows the diagnostic terminalia which I'd hinged open to view. Despite not knowing what it was I had captured, it keyed to Dicranomyia very easily and the wing venation/pattern and genitalia are clinchers. So that's two out of the three hundred and thirty three possible species done - so far so good!

I had to wait until mid-March for species No.3 to make an appearance, a gnat-like wee thing spotted as it rested on the underside of a branch in Uig Wood. 

This is a fairly undistinguished fly, though the hairy eyes immediately place it in Pediciidae and the wing venation quickly puts it in the genus Dicranota. It keys through straight to Dicranota subtilis, one I've never identified before. There are only two previous Skye records, both from the same chap in 2009, so it's nice to be able to add an updated record.

It wasn't until the end of March that I found what I had initially figured would have been my first cranefly of the year, spotted whilst fixing a broken window catch. This is Tipula rufina, a common species often encountered in the early part of the year and exhibiting patterned wings and a hugely diagnostic black streak running horizontally across the pleura.

This was my first Tipula of the year, a proper decent sized beast more readily recognisable as a cranefly rather than a large gnat. I saw a handful more over the next few weeks, but not as many as I would have expected to find. Maybe they're having a slow start to the year, or maybe I'm just not checking enough windows. Rather surprisingly, there are just two previous records for Skye (one being mine) and another from nearby Raasay. 

An entire four weeks passed before the next Tipula was recorded, but it was well worth the wait!

This is the rather lovely Tipula vittata, a common springtime species typically found in damp woodland across much of Britain. This is just the third modern record for the species on Skye, with the only other being a 1939 record. 

After the excitement of a decent Tipula, it was back to a small drab thing once more. This one keys to Dicranota pavida on account of the hairy eyes, a single wedge cell in the lower part of the outer-wing and an extra cross-vein in the upper part of the wingtip. There are no previous records of this cranefly from Skye.

My final cranefly of the spring thus far was found this morning, perched up on the wall of the laundry shed, presumably attracted in by the overnight light. I didn't have my camera or a pot to hand, so shoved it rather unceremoniously into a cup that was sat on the side.

The thirteen antennal segments, wingtips extending beyond the abdomen and narrow gap between the underside of the eyes all distinguish this as Tipula oleracea and not the similar Tipula paludosa, which flies quite a bit later in the year. 

So, the first five months of 2020 has provided me with seven species of craneflies and has resulted in no major issues or mental breakdowns. Maybe they are do-able by lesser mortals after all. Mind you, identifying seven out of 333 species hardly makes me an expert on the subject! I'm certain I'll come tumbling down to earth with a bump soon enough.  

I entitled this post Craneflies of Uig - Part 1 which kind of implies there will be a Part 2, maybe even a Part 3. Who knows where this could end (not me!) Well the tipulid season is about to kick off and I plan to keep abreast of identifying the ones I encounter as best I can. So yeah, there will definitely be a Part 2, probably for the summer jobbies, and a Part 3 for the end of summer species. Maybe even a Part 4 for the late season ones, who knows?

This is my breakdown so far :

Tipulidae - Tipula rufina, Tipula vittata and Tipula oleracea
Pediciidae - Dicranota subtilis and Dicranota pavida
Limoniidae - Limonia nubeculosa and Dicranomyia chorea
Cylindrotomidae - not yet.