CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by NERC Open Research Archive Institute of 11,,APt A Terrestrial u6.43ERITATION NIP Ecology COMMITTEE Provisional atlas of the ptychopterid craneflies (Diptera: Ptychopteridae) of Britain and Ireland Alan E Stubbs Natarai Environment: Research Council Primed in Great Ditain by Dixon Punting Co Ltd NERC Ccpynght 1993 Published m 1993 by Biological Records Centre inshtute of Terrestrial Ecology Monks Wood Abbess Rpton HiMingdon Cambs. Pr--17 ZCS ISBNI 870293 19 The Inntute of Terrestrial Ecolmy (ITE) is a component research organisation within the Natural Environment Research Council The institute is part of the Terrestrial and Freshwater Sc:ences Diremorate end was established in 1973 by the merger of ihe research stanons of the Nature Ceinsemncy with the Institute of Tree Biology It has been a; the forefront of ecological research ever since The six research stations of the institute provrde a ready access TO sites and to envemnenral and E-colidical problems in any par -of Britam in addition lo the broad envirenmemal knowledge and exper:ence expected of !he modern ecologist each station has a r ange c f special experuse and facilities 7nus, the institute is able to provide unparallelled cnpporturnnes fhr long-term multdIscipimary studies of complex environmental and ecological prchlems :Th. unilesakes speolanut echlhTeal cesea:ch on st ibleats ranging fr.3711:1TUCM-Organsnis to trees and mammals. from coa.shal habitats to uplands, from derelict land to air pollution Understanding the ecology of dferent species of natural and man-made communities plays an increasingly inpertant rene in arees such as moneenng ecological aspects ot agriculture improving preductp,nty in erenw controllIng pests, manacling and conserving wildlife, assessing the causes and effects of pefluion and rehab:II:at-mg disturbed sites The institute s resehitch 5 financed by the 1h-it:Government through the science budget and by private and pubEc seccor customers who commisslen or sponsor specific research programmes TIE s experne rs aisc widely used by intemanonal orgarusanons m overseas ce2aborave projects The results biThE research are available to those responsible for the protect:ion management and wise use df our natural resources. bemg published m a wide range of scientific journals and in an ITS sere?..s pubhcahons The Annual Report contains more general mformanon The Biological Records GE:lire is operated by ITE as part of the Environmental :nformanon Cent: e and receives financial support from the Joint Nature Censer/anon Committee It seeks to help nahiralists and research biologists te co-ordmace then efforts m stud:,nng the occurrence of plants and animals in the Frrush Isles and Lo m'ake :he results of these stutes available to others Dielmial Records Centre !cm; Nature Conservation Comminee lnsrhife of Ten eat; Ecology Monkstone House City Road Pzibhs Ripon PETERBOROUCH FITNTTNCDON Chimes PEI' 2LS Cmbs PEI IF{ 04073 (Atilms14,:pfen) 381 0733 82825 INSTIT' ' -FRRESTRIALECOLOGY BUSt . ENICUIK MIDLu SH26OQB Provisional atlas of the ptychopterid craneflies (Diptera: Ptychopteridae) of Britain and Ireland Alan E Stubbs (Peterborough) Edited for the Biological Records Centre by Paul T Harding and Julian C M Dring Biological Records Centre NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Monks Wood Huntingdon INSTITUTE OF TERRESTRIALECOLO6V BUSH ESTATE. PENICUIK WIT 0, 1..ti A ° Citation information: Stubbs, A.E. 1993. Provisional atlas of the ptychopterid craneflies (Diptera: Ptychopteridae)of Britain and Ireland, edited for the Biological Records Centre by P T Harding & J C M Dring. Huntingdon: Biological Records Centre. INSTITUTE OF TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY BUSH ESTATE, PENICU1K MIDLOTHIAN EN26 OGB o \01% CONTENTS Page Preface 5 Introduction 6 Species status 6 Future recording 7 Identification 8 Key to British and Irish species of Ptychoptera 9 Identification of females of P. contaminata and P. albirnana 12 Identification of females of lacustris and minuta groups 12 The European fauna 15 Early stages 18 Distribution maps and species accounts 21 Overall coverage of Ptychopteridae records 23 Ptychoptera albimana 24 Ptychoptera contaminata 25 Ptychoptera lacustris 26 Ptychoptera longicauda 27 Ptychoptera minuta 28 Ptychoptera paludosa 29 Ptychoptera scutellaris 30 Acknowledgements 31 References 32 Species index 34 á PREFACE This Atlas is the second to cover Invertebrate Survey, and from sections of the cranefly fauna of several Diptera Recording Schemes Britain and Ireland. It follows closely field meetings. In addition, the on the publication, by the Biological majority of the data on record cards Records Centre in 1992, of the and in other forms have been used Provisional atlas of the long-palped in the update. craneflies (Diptera: Tipulinae) of Britain and Ireland. The data The Atlas summarises data received compiled by the Cranefly and processed to the end of 1992. Recording Scheme are described in The notes on the European fauna that Atlas and it includes maps include a species described as new which summarise the data up to to science early in 1993. 1984. The Ptychopteridae are a distinctive The Ptychoptendae Atlas was family of flies whose species, at prepared concurrently with the least the males, are easy to identify Tip ulinae Atlas, but it has been even in the field. Keys to adults are possible to update the maps as far included in this Atlas and it is hoped as possible within new publication they will provide a stimulus to deadlines. This update has drawn recorders to improve the coverage on a growing body of computerised of the family. Most of the species data (using the RECORDER data are good indicators of habitat management package) which quality and are useful in site include those from the former evaluation where standing water or Nature Conservancy Council's streams are present. Welsh Peatlands Invertebrate Survey and East Anglian Fens Alan E Stubbs June 1993 INTRODUCTION The Ptychopteridae are a distinctive Ptychoptera species, together with a family of flies which is represented statement on the habitat, seasonal by the single genus Ptychoptera. occurrence and any features of the There are seven species in Britain distribution illustrated by the maps. and one less in Ireland. Superficially These maps summarise the majority they resemble Tipulidae (true of the data currently available for craneflies) and have been included which there are grid references. in the species covered by the Cranefly Recording Scheme, Keys to adults of the species of although the evolutionary Ptychoptera occurring in Britain and relationship is not close. Ireland are supplemented by notes on the other European species. This Atlas updates an earlier paper (Stubbs 1972) which was the first It is hoped, at a later stage, to comprehensive review to be produce new keys to larvae. published on the distribution of a genus of insects based on Biological Records Centre (BRC) maps. This Species status paper on Ptychoptera acted as a model, which demonstrated that a BRC maps, such as those in this recording scheme for selected Atlas, assist in the assessment of the groups of Diptera was a practical national and regional status of proposition. It led to the formation of species, with any necessary the Cranefly Recording Scheme, allowance for the extent and biases covering more than 300 species in coverage by recorders. The within the families Tipulidae, scarcer species are often regarded Trichoceridae, Anisopodidae and to be of particular importance in Ptychopteridae, which was launched evaluating the conservation value of in 1973 when BRC produced record sites. cards for craneflies. None of the species of Ptychoptera Knowledge of the Irish fauna has qualify for inclusion in the British Red been updated by Speight and Data Book for insects (Shirt 1987). O'Connor (1981), the only review The rarest species, P. longicauda, is concerning the Ptychoptera fauna of listed by Falk (1991) as being Britain or Ireland to have been 'notable' (a category which has published in the last 20 years. been defined for species which occur or are likely to occur in 16- The present Atlas provides 100 10 km squares in Britain). distribution maps for the seven Several species have a very 6 localised occurrence in some regions, for example P. contamihata in Scotland and P. scutellarisin Wales and south-west Scotland. Further details of the definition of species status are given in the Provisional atlas of long-palped craneflies (Stubbs 1992). Future recording It is hoped that the keys, maps and other information in this Atlas will act as a stimulus to further recording and other studies of Ptychoptera in Britain and Ireland. There is considerable potential for improvement of the coverage summarised in the maps, and further clarification is needed of the habitat requirements of species such as P. minuta, P. scutellarisand P. longicauda. 7 IDENTIFICATION Ptychoptera species resemble craneflies (Tipulidae) in having long legs. They are black, sometimes with wing spots, and sometimes with orange markings on the abdomen. The typical body length for the genus is 8-15 mm. There are very few Tipulidae of that size which are black or black and orange. The wing venation (below) is unlike that of any member of the Tipulidae, notably in having only one anal vein (which strongly curves down apica.11y, well beyond the wing base) and in the presence of a vena spuria (a false vein running through r-m; there is another very weak vena spuria between veins Cu and A). Anal vein False veins In the field, the posture of adults is characteristic of the genus. The wings are held in a delta shape (at about 450 to the body axis), slightly raised and with the plane of the wings angled inwards. In flight, they slightly resemble ichneumonids. Once recognised, these flies are very distinctive. The adults are normally found near potential breeding sites such as marshy seepages, swampy woodland, ditches, streams, ponds and lakes, but occasional individuals may be found as strays some distance from water.