Limonia hardyana
| Limonia hardyana | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Limoniidae |
| Genus: | Limonia |
| Species: | L. hardyana
|
| Binomial name | |
| Limonia hardyana Byers 1985
| |
Limonia hardyana or flightless crane fly is a rare, wingless fly living in leaf litter on Oʻahu.[1]
Physical Description[edit]
The Limonia hardyana has 6 long legs, a tri-segmented body, and is wingless.[2] Sometimes mistaken for a mosquito.[3]
Habitat[edit]
The Limonia haryana was discovered on or near the summit of Koolau Mountains on Oahu in Hawaii.[4] This mountain range is 3,130 ft (960 meters) in elevation and is a dormant volcano,[5] where it can be found living in the higher elevation bogs or leaf litter.[6] The reason the crane fly is flightless is because flying at high altitudes may pose a risk due to high winds.[7]
Crane fly larvae are “benthic-dwelling” and take approximately two weeks to hatch.[8]
Species Status[edit]
Possibly extinct due to destruction of its habitat by boars or being eaten by other predatory insects.[9]
Discovery[edit]
The Limonia hardyana was discovered by George William Byers a professor of Entomology at the University of Kansas in 1985. Byers was the curator of the Snow Entomology Division of the Biodiversity Institute of the University. He continued to study crane flies until his passing in 2018.[10]
Conservation[edit]
May become endangered if manmade water deviations continue, thus eliminating and redirecting the streams and water flows where the Liminia hardiana lives.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^ "Flightless Cranefly". hbs.bishopmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
- ^ Byers, George (1969). "Evolution of Wing Reduction in Crane Flies". Evolution. 23 (2) – via Evolution.
- ^ "Crane Flies (Various spp.)". www.insectidentification.org. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
- ^ "Flightless Cranefly". hbs.bishopmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
- ^ "Koolau Range | mountains, Hawaii, United States | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
- ^ "Flightless Cranefly". hbs.bishopmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
- ^ Roff, Derek A. (1990). "The Evolution of Flightlessness in Insects". Ecological Monographs. 60 (4): 389–421. doi:10.2307/1943013. ISSN 0012-9615.
- ^ "Flightless Cranefly". hbs.bishopmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
- ^ Nix Illustration (September 2019). "Island Weirdness #43: Flightless Flies". Nix Illustration. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- ^ "Rumsey-Yost Obituary for George W Byers". September 2018.