order
Coleoptera
“Adult Beetles”
Coleoptera
“Larval Beetles”
Diptera
“True Flies”
Ephemeroptera
“Mayflies”
Hemiptera
“True Bugs”
Lepidoptera
“Aquatic Caterpillars, Snout Moths”
Megaloptera
“Alderflies, Dobsonflies, and Fishflies”
Odonata
“Dragonflies and Damselflies”
Plecoptera
“Stoneflies”
Trichoptera
“Caddisflies”
family
Limoniidae
“Limoniid Crane Flies”
Genus Overview
7 species in North America. As adults they hold and fold their wings along their back. They are one of the few genera found in flowing water.
Characteristics
POLLUTION TOLERANCE
Southeast: 4.6 and higher
Upper Midwest: 3 and higher
Midwest: 2.2 and higher
FEEDING HABITS
Collector / Gatherer
MOVEMENT
Clinger
DISTRIBUTION
Widespread (east of the Rocky Mtns.)
HABITAT
Lotic-erosional
Diagnostic Characters
Order
Legs Absent
Family
Head Retracted in Thorax
Posterior Spiracles with Lobes
Genus
Creeping Welts
+ Expanded Character List
Order:
Wings and wing pads absent. Eye spots sometimes visible, but compound eyes absent. Segmented legs absent, but sometimes fleshy prolegs present. Sometimes with distinct head, often without head or with head drawn deeply into thorax. Body flattened, cylindrical, or maggot-like.
Family:
Mandibles moving against one another along an horizontal or oblique plane. Hardened head capsule always deeply retracted inside thorax; often with length-wise incisions of varying depths beginning at posterior margin of head, and extending forward; in extreme cases head consisting of only several slender rods (visible only via disection of thorax). Spiracles absent (apneustic) or with 1 pair at posterior end of body (metapneustic); posterior spiracles rimmed by 2–7 (usually 5) lobes often fringed with hair. Mature larvae usually 10–25 mm long.
Genus:
Tracheal system is closed, no spiracles present, dorsal and ventral creeping welts present on 2-7 abdominal segments
Dorsal
Lateral