A Preliminary List of the Crane Flies (Diptera: Tipulidae) of Iowa

The members of the family Tipulidae are commonly called Crane flies. They have slender bodies, long slim wings, prominent halteres and long dangling legs. The legs break so readily between the trochanter and femur that it becomes a difficult problem to collect these insects and get them mounted in good condition. 1 This brittleness might almost be made a character for determination of the family. The antennae are long and slim and are composed of from six to thirty-nine jointed segments. The eyes are large and the ocelli are wanting. In size the various species show a range almost as great as that found in the entire order of Diptera; the wing expanse varying from about two millimeters to forty-five millimeters or more