Limoniidae

Limoniidae is the largest of four crane fly families, with more than 10,700 species in more than 150 genera. Some studies have suggested it to be a paraphyletic group, with some limoniids being more closely related to Tipulidae and Cylindrotomidae than to other limoniids. Limoniid crane flies can usually be distinguished by the way the wings are held at rest. Limoniids usually hold/fold the wings along the back of the body, whereas other crane flies usually hold them out at right angles. Snow flies such as Chionea scita have no wings at all. Limoniids are also usually smaller than other crane flies, with some exceptions.

Limoniidae

Uncredited · Attribution · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TipuloideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 245 million years on record.

The record covers at least 245.19 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 805 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 3 of 805 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 3 of 805 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 82 of 805 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 8 of 805 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 36 of 805 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 39 of 805 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 47 of 805 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 805 occurrencesEocene — about 475 of 805 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 31 of 805 occurrencesMiocene — about 74 of 805 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 805 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 805 occurrences252–244 Mya — about 2 occurrences244–235 Mya — about 1 occurrence235–227 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227–218 Mya — about 1 occurrence218–210 Mya — about 1 occurrence210–202 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences202–193 Mya — about 16 occurrences193–185 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences185–176 Mya — about 65 occurrences176–168 Mya — about 3 occurrences168–160 Mya — about 9 occurrences160–151 Mya — about 9 occurrences151–143 Mya — about 24 occurrences143–134 Mya — about 2 occurrences134–126 Mya — about 3 occurrences126–118 Mya — about 13 occurrences118–109 Mya — about 10 occurrences109–101 Mya — about 11 occurrences101–92 Mya — about 41 occurrences92–84 Mya — about 2 occurrences84–76 Mya — about 3 occurrences76–67 Mya — about 1 occurrence67–59 Mya — about 2 occurrences59–50 Mya — about 15 occurrences50–42 Mya — about 18 occurrences42–34 Mya — about 444 occurrences34–25 Mya — about 16 occurrences25–17 Mya — about 51 occurrences17–8.4 Mya — about 31 occurrences8.4–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences245.19 Mya11.7 ka252 Mya0 Mya

805 occurrences of Limoniidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

805 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

50 formations

Bouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.75°EPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ESharteg — 44.14°N, 95.77°EDzhil — 42.70°N, 77.20°EGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 39.00°N, 108.00°WGreen River — 38.90°N, 109.20°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WEscucha — 42.64°N, 2.72°WEscucha — 40.80°N, 0.81°WGurvan-Eren — 48.07°N, 91.65°EGurvan-Eren — 46.38°N, 93.95°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EGessoso-solfifera — 43.90°N, 12.92°EItat — 56.17°N, 93.17°EWhitby Mudstone — 52.01°N, 1.99°WKaragan — 45.05°N, 42.32°EIchetuy — 51.27°N, 108.10°EMoler — 56.84°N, 9.00°EKhaya — 62.16°N, 118.60°ECow Branch — 36.54°N, 79.67°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EPesciara — 45.60°N, 11.20°EBembridge Marls — 50.75°N, 1.34°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°ERaritan/Magothy — 40.47°N, 74.37°WGrès à Voltzia — 48.83°N, 7.24°EGrès à Voltzia — 48.72°N, 7.17°E

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The named rock units Limoniidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 525 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Limoniidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Limoniidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

7,234 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 174 sites for Limoniidae, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

199 references

Each of the 805 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 187 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Limoniidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTipuloidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Speiser 1909