Bibionidae (March flies) is a family of flies (

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

) containing approximately 650–700 species worldwide. Adults are nectar feeders and emerge in numbers in spring. Because of the likelihood of adults flies being found ''in copula'', they have earned colloquial names such as "love bugs" or "honeymoon flies".

Description

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

Biology

Bibionid larvae grow up in grassy areas and are

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

s and scavengers feeding on dead vegetation or living plant roots. Some species are found in

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

. 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 (

lovebug The lovebug (''Plecia nearctica'') is a species of march fly found in parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast. It is also known as the honeymoon fly or double-headed bug. During and after mat ...

s) 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.

Fossil record

Bibionids have the most extensive fossil record of any dipteran family. Fossil bibionids are known questionably from the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

, while some forms from the early part of the Upper

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

look quite similar to modern species. Bibionid flies are very abundant among insect

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

from the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

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

Genera

*''

Bibio Stephen James Wilkinson (born 4 December 1978), better known as Bibio, is an English musician and producer. He is known for a distinct analog Lo-fi music, lo-fi sound, and for working in a diverse range of genres, beginning in folktronica and ...

'' Geoffroy, 1762 *'' Bibiodes'' Coquillett, 1904 *'' Bibionellus''

Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate * Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and ora ...

, 1935 *'' Cascoplecia'' *†'' Clothonopsis'' Hong & Wang, 1987(dubious taxon) *'' Dilophus'' Meigen, 1803 *'' Enicoscolus'' Hardy, 1968 * †'' Fushunoplecia'' Hong, 2002 * †'' Lithosomyia'' Carpenter, 1986 * †'' Mesopleciella'' Rohdendorf, 1946 *'' 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 A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the maj ...

. Larvae play an important role in formation and accumulation of humus in soil. Some

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e are serious plant pests, especially of pasture land and other agronomic crops including cereal crops, vegetables, forage crops, and seedlings of many other plants.

References

Images

Diptera.infoBugGuide

External links

multiple images including photomicrographs
at

Encyclopaedia of Life The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of non ...

''Plecia nearctica'', lovebug
on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{Taxonbar, from=Q1431774 Nematocera families