Bibionidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Antliophora
Ordo: Diptera
Subordo: Nematocera
Infraordo: Bibionomorpha
Superfamilia: Bibionoidea

Familia: Bibionidae
Genera (7 + 2†): Bibio – Bibiodes – Bibionellus – Dilophus – Enicoscolus – Penthetria – Plecia – †Cascoplecia – †Cretobibio – †Cretpenthetria – †Fushunoplecia – †Protopenthetria – †Lithosomyia

[source: Catalogue of Life: 2013 Annual Checklist, except fossils]

Check: Bibiodites – Clothonopsis – Megeana – Mesopleciella – Pleciodes

Name

Bibionidae Newman, 1834

References

Haenni, J.-P. 2009: The Bibionidae (Diptera) of Sardinia, with description of two new species. Pp. 427-439 in: Cerretti, P.; Mason, F.; Minelli, A.; Nardi, G.; Whitmore, D. (eds), Research on the terrestrial arthropods of Sardinia (Italy). Zootaxa, 2318: 1–602. Abstract & excerpt PDF
Falaschi, R.L., Oliveira, S.S. & Amorim, D. de S. 2016. Family BIBIONIDAE. In Wolff, M.I., Nihei, S.S. & Carvalho, C.J.B. de (eds.), Catalogue of Diptera of Colombia. Zootaxa 4122(1): 20–25. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4122.1.5. Reference page.
Harrison, R.A. 1990: Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera). Fauna of New Zealand, (20) ISBN 0-477-02595-1. Online.Reference page.
Skartveit, J. & Nel, A. 2012. Fossil Bibionidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) from the late Oligocene of Bes-Konak, Anatolia, Turkey. Zootaxa 3329: 51–63. Preview Reference page.
Skartveit, J. & Nel, A. 2017. Revision of fossil Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera) from French Oligocene deposits. Zootaxa 4225(1): 1–83. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4225.1.1. Reference page.

Vernacular names
English: March Flies
suomi: Karvasääsket
日本語: ケバエ科
polski: Leniowate
中文: 毛蚋科

Bibionidae (March flies) is a family of flies (Diptera) containing approximately 650–700 species worldwide.

Description
For terms, see Morphology of Diptera.

Bibionidae are medium-sized flies with a body length from 4.0 to 10.0 mm. The body is black, brown, or rusty, and thickset, with thick legs. The antennae are moniliform. The front tibiae bear large strong spurs or a circlet of spines. The tarsi are five-segmented and bear tarsal claws, pulvilli, and a well developed empodium. The wings have two basal cells (posterior basal wing cell and basal wing cell), but are without a discoidal wing cell. R4+5 is simple or branched; at most, only three branches of R developed. The leading edge wing veins are stronger than the weak veins of the trailing edge.
Bibionidae wing veins
Bibio pomonae: Note the dichoptic female.
The male is holoptic.
Biology

Bibionid larvae grow up in grassy areas and are herbivores and scavengers feeding on dead vegetation or living plant roots. Some species are found in compost.[1] Larvae are sometimes found in pockets in which sometimes up to 200 specimens have been counted. Adults of most Plecia and some species of Bibio do not eat, but subsist solely on the food taken in during the larval stage and drop steadily when in flight until they are a few inches above the ground, hovering slowly. Adult-stage bibionids are quite short-lived, and some species of Plecia (lovebugs) spend much of their adult lives copulating. The male and female (lovebugs) attach themselves at the rear of the abdomen and remain that way at all times, even in flight. Adults swarm after synchronous emergence, sometimes in enormous numbers.[2]

Fossil record

Bibionids have the most extensive fossil record of any dipteran family. Fossil bibionids are known questionably from the Jurassic, while some forms from the early part of the Upper Cretaceous look quite similar to modern species. Bibionid flies are very abundant among insect fossils from the Tertiary period, and many species have been described, although often based on highly fragmentary material. Most fossil species are easily identified with extant genera. In particular, the genera Plecia and Bibio are abundant among Tertiary fossils. Fossils from Europe include many specimens of the mainly tropical genus Plecia which is today entirely absent from Europe, demonstrating a warmer climate during the Tertiary.
Genera

Bibio Geoffroy, 1762
Bibiodes Coquillett, 1904[3]
Bibionellus Edwards, 1935[4]
†Cascoplecia Poinar, 2010
†Clothonopsis Hong & Wang, 1987[5](dubious taxon)
Dilophus Meigen, 1803[6]
Enicoscolus Hardy, 1968[7]
†Fushunoplecia Hong, 2002[8]
†Lithosomyia Carpenter, 1986[9]
†Mesopleciella Rohdendorf, 1946[10]
Penthetria Meigen, 1803
Plecia Wiedemann, 1828

Economic importance

Adults feed on the nectar of flowers of fruit trees and especially on flowers of umbelliferous plants; often swarming in mass flights in spring. Adults are important pollinators. Larvae play an important role in formation and accumulation of humus in soil. Some larvae are serious plant pests, especially of pasture land and other agronomic crops including cereal crops, vegetables, forage crops, and seedlings of many other plants.[1][11][2][12][13][14][15]
References

Hardy, D.E. (1989). McAlpine, J.F. (ed.). Bibionidae. in: Manual of Nearctic Diptera (PDF). Ottawa: Agriculture Canada. pp. 217–222. ISBN 0-660-10731-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
Freeman, Paul; Lane, Richard P. (1985). "Bibionid and Scatopsid flies, Diptera: Bibionidae & Scatopsidae" (Print). Handbooks for the identification of British insects. 9 (7). London: Royal Entomological Society of London: 74.
Coquillett, Daniel W. (1904). "New North American Diptera". Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 6: 166–192. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
Edwards, Frederick W (1935). "New Neotropical Bibionnae (Diptera)". Stylops. 4: 19–24.
Hong, Y.; Wang, W.-I. (1987). "Miocene Emboptera [Embioptera] and Coleoptera (Insecta) of Shanwang, Shandong Province, China". Prof. Pap. Stratigr. Palaeontol. 17: 257–262.
Meigen, J. W. (1803). "Versuch einer neuen Gattungs-Eintheilung der europaischen zweiflugligen Insekten". Mag. Insektenkd. 2: 259–281.
Hardy, D. Elmo (1961). "Notes and descriptions of exotic Bibionidae". Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 63: 81–99. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
Hong, Y. C. (2002). Amber insects of China. [iv]. Beijing: Beijing Science and Technology Press. pp. 653 pp., 48 pls.
Carpenter, Frank M. (1986). "Substitute names for some extinct genera of fossil insects" (PDF). Psyche. 92 (4): 575–582. doi:10.1155/1985/62623. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
Rohdendorf, B. B. (1946). "The evolution of the wing and the phylogeny of Oligoneura (Diptera, Nematocera)". Trudy Paleontol. Inst. 13 (2): 1–108, 16 pls.
Darvas, B., Skuhravá, M., Andersen, A., 2000, Agricultural dipteran pests of the Palaearctic Region. In: Papp, L., Darvas, B. (Eds.). Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera with Special Reference to Flies of Economic Importance. Science Herald, Budapest, 565–649.
Bollow, H. 1954. Die Landwirtschaftlich wichtigen Haarmticken. Z. PflBau PflSchutz 5 (49): 197–232.
Maier-Bode, [-]. 1936. Die Gartenhaarmticke (Bibio hortulanus) als Roggen-schiidling. NachrBl. dt. PflSchutzdienst., Berl. 16: 10.
Spitzer, K. 1966. An example of severe damage to planted potatoes by the garden March fly (Bibio hortulanus L.) [in Czeckoslovakian]. Ochr. Rost. 2(39):81–82.

Strickland, E. H. (1916). "The March fly (Bibio abbreviatus) in grain fields and as a pest of celery". Agric. Gaz. Can. 3: 600–603.