Corydalidae

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Corydalidae
Temporal range: Jurassic–Recent
Corydalus cornutus MHNT.jpg
a Corydalus species
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Megaloptera
Family: Corydalidae
Leach 1815
Subfamilies

The family Corydalidae contains the megalopterous insects known as dobsonflies and fishflies. Making up about three dozen genera, [1] they occur primarily throughout North America, both temperate and tropical, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa (particularly South Africa) and Asia.

Contents

They are sizeable Megaloptera, with a body usually larger than 25 mm (1 inch). They often have long filamentous antennae, though in male fishflies they are characteristically feathered. Ocelli are present; the fourth tarsal segment is cylinder-shaped. The four large wings are translucent, smoky grey, or mixed, and the anterior pair is slightly longer than the posterior one. Their aquatic larvae are used as fish bait and are called hellgrammites. The larvae are aquatic, active, armed with strong sharp mandibles, and breathe by means of abdominal branchial filaments. When full sized — which can take several years — they leave the water and spend a quiescent pupal stage on the land, in chambers dug under stones or logs, before metamorphosis into the sexually mature insect.

Distribution

The eastern dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus , is the most well-known North American species among the dobsonflies. These genera have distinctive elongated mandibles in males and form the subfamily Corydalinae. The genera in which the males have normal mandibles, called fishflies, form the subfamily Chauliodinae. The summer fishfly, Chauliodes pectinicornis , is perhaps the best-known of these in North America; its immense mating swarms in the Upper Mississippi River region fill the air on a few summer nights each year much like mayflies in certain regions of Europe, leaving millions of carcasses to be cleaned up the next day.

Taxonomy

The family is divided into two subfamilies, the Corydalinae and the Chauliodinae. Classification and identification is based on external morphology and at the species level using male genitalia. [2] These 36 genera belong to the family Corydalidae:

Data sources: i = ITIS, [3] c = Catalogue of Life, [4] g = GBIF, [5] b = Bugguide.net [6]

Footnotes

  1. See references in Haaramo (2008)
  2. Glorioso, Michael J. (1981). "Systematics of the dobsonfly subfamily Corydalinae ( Megaloptera: Corydalidae)" (PDF). Systematic Entomology. 6: 253–290.
  3. "Corydalidae Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  4. "Browse Corydalidae". Catalogue of Life. Archived from the original on 2021-11-08. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  5. "Corydalidae". GBIF. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  6. "Corydalidae Family Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-04-23.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megaloptera</span> Order of insects

Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dobsonfly</span> Subfamily of insects

Dobsonflies are a subfamily of insects, Corydalinae, part of the Megalopteran family Corydalidae. The larvae are aquatic, living in streams, and the adults are often found along streams as well. The nine genera of dobsonflies are distributed in the Americas, Asia, and South Africa.

<i>Corydalus cornutus</i> Species of insect

The eastern dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus, is a large insect in the Corydalidae family. It is found in eastern North America in regions with fast-flowing streams where its aquatic larvae develop. These are known as hellgrammites and are among the top invertebrate predators in the streams in which they live. They are used by anglers as bait.

<i>Corydalus</i> Genus of insects

Corydalus is a genus of large flying insects in the Corydalidae family, commonly known as dobsonflies. They are endemic to North, Central and South America and there are about 35 known species. Members of the genus have wing lengths of up to 85 millimetres. They are sexually dimorphic, with the males having large mandibles used to grasp the females during mating while the females have smaller jaws. The larvae are known as hellgrammites and are aquatic predators.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chauliodinae</span> Subfamily of insects

Fishflies are members of the subfamily Chauliodinae, belonging to the megalopteran family Corydalidae. They are most easily distinguished from their closest relatives, dobsonflies, by the jaws (mandibles) and antennae. In contrast to the large jaws of dobsonflies, fishfly mandibles are not particularly noticeable or distinctive, and the males have feathery antennae similar to many large moths. Chauliodes pectinicornis, the "summer fishfly", is a well-known species in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychomyiidae</span> Family of caddisflies

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alderfly</span> Family of insects

Alderflies are megalopteran insects of the family Sialidae. They are closely related to the dobsonflies and fishflies as well as to the prehistoric Euchauliodidae. All living alderflies – about 66 species all together – are part of the subfamily Sialinae, which contains nine extant genera.

<i>Chauliodes pectinicornis</i> Species of insect

Chauliodes pectinicornis known as Summer fishfly, is a species of fishfly from North America.

<i>Nigronia serricornis</i> Species of insect

Nigronia serricornis has many common names including hellgrammites or fishflies or saw-combed fishflies. The genus Nigronia has one other North American member N. fasciatus and South American which lives in much of the same territory and is quite similar in all regards. They are holometabolous insects with an aquatic larval stage. N. serricornis is a common inhabitant of woodland streams in North America and they are often the largest insect predator found in 2nd and 3rd order streams. The larvae are a sit-and -wait ambush predators that feed on a large variety of invertebrates. Studies have shown that N. serricornis has a varying diet throughout the seasons.

<i>Archichauliodes diversus</i> Species of insect

Archichauliodes diversus is an insect in the subfamily Chauliodinae - the fishflies, though it is often referred to as the New Zealand dobsonfly, despite not being a true dobsonfly. In its larval form it is commonly known by the name toe-biter, and its Māori name is puene. The species is native to New Zealand. Although there are many other species of fishfly in other parts of the world, Archichauliodes diversus is the only species of fishfly in New Zealand.

<i>Platyneuromus</i> Genus of insects

Platyneuromus is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae. They are found in Mexico and Central America.

<i>Acanthacorydalis fruhstorferi</i> Species of insect

Acanthacorydalis fruhstorferi is a species of dobsonfly native to Vietnam and China. It holds the title of largest aquatic insect by wingspan according to the Guinness Book of World Records at 21.6 cm. The title formerly belonged to the Brazilian damselfly Microstigma rotundatum.

<i>Neoneuromus</i> Genus of insects

Neoneuromus is a genus of dobsonfly endemic to the Indomalayan realm with 13 species. The larvae breed in montane streams. Adults are large with a forewing of 43 to 68 mm length and the body is yellow to red or brown with black marks on the head and pronotum. The wings are marked in dark patterning in the membrane and along the veins. They are closely related to Nevromus from which they are separated by the attenuation of the ninth sternum with an incised tip.

<i>Chloronia</i> Genus of insects

Chloronia is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae.

<i>Taeniochauliodes</i> Genus of fishflies

Taeniochauliodes is a genus of fishflies in the family Corydalidae.

<i>Protohermes</i> Genus of insects

Protohermes is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae. Protohermes is the most speciose and widely distributed genus within Megaloptera, but up to 85% of species are restricted to small endemic areas in Asia. This endemism may be a result of an association with high elevation and high slope streams in Northern Vietnam and China.

<i>Parachauliodes</i> Genus of insects

Parachauliodes is a genus of fishfly in the family Corydalidae. They are present throughout Eastern Asia, likely originating on the Korean peninsula before dispersing to the Japanese archipelago 15 mya.

<i>Neurhermes</i> Genus of insects

Neurhermes is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae.

References