About these keys:

These taxonomic keys available here are in the Lucid 2 format and may be used with the Lucid Player software available from: www.lucidcentral.com/lucid2/player/lucidplayer (free with registration).

The process of understanding and describing the diversity and taxonomic structure of the Tipuloidea is still a work in progress. As new taxa are discovered and definitions of genera and subgenera are better defined the structure of these keys will undoubtedly be changed to reflect these changes. If problems occur with the operation of these keys or you have comments about their construction, please feel free to contact us with your questions and comments.

If problems occur with download of the keys available here please send an email and explain the problem encountered.

Family Key:
Larval Family Key.lcd
(15.93 KB)

Download sites for crane fly keys:

The great majority of taxonomic information pertaining to crane flies is restricted to the adult stage, with only about 10% of the adult flies associated with their larval and pupal stages. Although little is known about the larval stage of crane flies, what is known shows that they occupy a wide array of aquatic, semiaquatic, and terrestrial habitats. The aquatic crane flies show a variety of habitat types ranging from cool fast moving streams, moss covered rocks, debris piles, saturated wood, to marshy organic soils. Some genera, such as Limonia may cover this entire range of variation.

The larval key presented here is a generic level key (subgeneric for Tipulidae) for the known aquatic crane fly larvae.

Limoniidae Key:
Limoniidae.lcd
(17.66 KB)

Cylindrotomidae Key:
Cylindrotomidae.lcd
(15.65 KB)

Tipulidae Key:
Tipulidae.lcd
(17.45 KB)