Limonia hardyana

Limonia hardyana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Limoniidae
Genus:	Limonia
Species:	L. hardyana
Binomial name
Limonia hardyana Byers 1985

Limonia hardyana or flightless crane fly is a rare, wingless fly living in leaf litter on Oʻahu.

Physical Description

The Limonia hardyana has 6 long legs, a tri-segmented body, and is wingless. Sometimes mistaken for a mosquito.

Habitat

The Limonia haryana was discovered on or near the summit of Koolau Mountains on Oahu in Hawaii. This mountain range is 3,130 ft (960 meters) in elevation and is a dormant volcano, where it can be found living in the higher elevation bogs or leaf litter. The reason the crane fly is flightless is because flying at high altitudes may pose a risk due to high winds.

Crane fly larvae are “benthic-dwelling” and take approximately two weeks to hatch.

Species Status

Possibly extinct due to destruction of its habitat by boars or being eaten by other predatory insects.

Discovery

The Limonia hardyana was discovered by George William Byers a professor of Entomology at the University of Kansas in 1985. Byers was the curator of the Snow Entomology Division of the Biodiversity Institute of the University. He continued to study crane flies until his passing in 2018.

Conservation

May become endangered if manmade water deviations continue, thus eliminating and redirecting the streams and water flows where the Liminia hardiana lives.