Alderfly
Encyclopedia
Alderflies are megaloptera
n insect
s 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
altogether - are part of the subfamily Sialinae, which contains between one and seven extant genera
according to different scientists' views. But in most classifications, all or almost all of these are treated as subgenera of Sialis.
Sialinae have a body length of less than 25 mm (1 inch), long filamentous antennae
and four large dark wings of which the anterior pair is slightly longer than the posterior. They lack ocelli
and their fourth tarsal segment is dilated and deeply bilobed. Dead alderfly larvae are used as bait in fishing.
The females lay a vast number of eggs upon grass stems near water. The larva
e are aquatic, active, armed with strong sharp mandibles, and breathe by means of seven pairs of abdominal branchial
filaments. When full sized, which takes between one and two years, they leave the water and spend a quiescent pupa
l stage on the land before metamorphosis
into the sexually mature insect. Adult alderflies stay near to the water, in which they had lived in when they were younger.
alderflies.
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Family Sialidae
Sialis lutaria is the most common alderfly in the United Kingdom
and across much of Europe.
Megaloptera
Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.The Megaloptera were formerly considered part of a group then called Neuroptera, together with lacewings and snakeflies, but these are now generally considered to be...
n insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Sialidae. They are closely related to the dobsonflies and fishflies as well as to the prehistoric Euchauliodidae. All living alderflies - about 66 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
altogether - are part of the subfamily Sialinae, which contains between one and seven extant genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
according to different scientists' views. But in most classifications, all or almost all of these are treated as subgenera of Sialis.
Sialinae have a body length of less than 25 mm (1 inch), long filamentous antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
and four large dark wings of which the anterior pair is slightly longer than the posterior. They lack ocelli
Ocellus
A simple eye refers to a type of eye design or optical arrangement that contains a single lens which detect light. A "simple eye" is so-called in distinction from a multi-lensed "compound eye", and is not necessarily at all simple in the usual sense of the word...
and their fourth tarsal segment is dilated and deeply bilobed. Dead alderfly larvae are used as bait in fishing.
The females lay a vast number of eggs upon grass stems near water. The larva
Larva
A larva 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...
e are aquatic, active, armed with strong sharp mandibles, and breathe by means of seven pairs of abdominal branchial
Gill
A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
filaments. When full sized, which takes between one and two years, they leave the water and spend a quiescent pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
l stage on the land before metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...
into the sexually mature insect. Adult alderflies stay near to the water, in which they had lived in when they were younger.
Genera and Species
In addition to the seven living genera (or genus), there are several genera of fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
alderflies.
- Subfamily †ExtinctionIn biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
Dobbertiniinae (basal within Sialidae)- Genus †Dobbertinia
- Subfamily Sialinae
- Genus Austrosialis Tillyard, [1919]
- Species Austrosialis ignicollis Tillyard, [1919]
- Species Austrosialis maxmouldsi Theischinger, 1983
- Genus †Eosialis Nel et al., 2002
- Species †Eosialis dorisi Nel et al., 2002
- Genus Indosialis Lestage, 1927
- Species Indosialis bannaensis X.-y. Liu et al., 2006
- Species Indosialis beskonakensis Nel, 1988
- Species Indosialis indica X.-y. Liu et al., 2008
- Species Indosialis minora (Banks, 1920)
- Genus Leptosialis Esben-Petersen, 1920
- Species Leptosialis africana Esben-Petersen, 1920
- Genus Nipponosialis Kuwayama, 1962
- Species Nipponosialis amamiensis Kuwayama, 1964
- Species Nipponosialis jezoensis (Okamoto, 1910)
- Subspecies Nipponosialis jezoensis jezoensis (Okamoto, 1910)
- Subspecies Nipponosialis jezoensis kuwayamai Hayashi & Suda, 1995
- Species Nipponosialis kumejimae (Okamoto, 1910)
- Genus †Proindosialis Nel, 1988
- Species †Proindosialis cantalensis Nel, 1988
- Genus Protosialis van der Weele, 1909
- Species Protosialis afra Navás, (1936)
- Species Protosialis americana (Rambur, 1842)
- Species Protosialis australiensis (Tillyard, [1919)
- Species Protosialis australis Navás, 1927
- Species †Protosialis baltica (Wichard, 1997)
- Species Protosialis bifasciata (Hagen, 1861)
- Species Protosialis bimaculata Banks, 1920
- Species Protosialis brasiliensis Navás, 1936
- Species †Protosialis cascaProtosialis cascaProtosialis casca is an extinct species of alderfly in the Sialidae subfamily Sialinae. The species is solely known from the early Miocene, Burdigalian stage, Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispaniola...
(Engel & Grimaldi, 2007) - Species Protosialis chilensis (McLachlan, (1871)
- Species Protosialis flammata Penny, (1982)
- Species Protosialis flavicollis (Enderlein, 1910)
- Species Protosialis hauseri Contreras-Ramos et al., 2005
- Species Protosialis madegassa Navás, 1927
- Species Protosialis mexicana (Banks, 1901)
- Species Protosialis minora Banks, 1920
- Species Protosialis nubila Navás, 1933
- Species Protosialis ranchograndis Contreras-Ramos, 2006
- Species †Protosialis voigti (Wichard & Engel, 2006)
- Genus Sialis Latreille, 1802
- Species Approximately 90
- Species Sialis abchasica Vshivkova, 1985
- Species Sialis aequalis Banks, 1920
- Species Sialis americana (Rambur, 1842)
- Species Sialis annae Vshivkova, 1979
- Species Sialis arvalis Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis atra Navás, (1928)
- Species Sialis bifida Hayashi & Suda, 1997
- Species Sialis bilineata Say, 1823
- Species Sialis bilobata Whiting, 1991
- Species Sialis californica Banks, 1920
- Species Sialis chilensis McLachlan, (1871)
- Species Sialis concava Banks, 1897
- Species Sialis contigua Flint, 1964
- Species Sialis cornuta Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis didyma Navás, 1916
- Species Sialis dorochovae Vshivkova, 1985
- Species Sialis dorsata Say, 1823
- Species Sialis dreisbachi Flint, 1964
- Species Sialis elegans X.-y. Liu & D. Yang, 2006
- Species Sialis flavicollis Enderlein, 1910
- Species Sialis formosana Esben-Petersen, 1913
- Species Sialis frequens Okamoto, 1905
- Species Sialis fuliginosa F. Pictet, 1836
- Species Sialis fumosa Navás, 1915
- Species Sialis glabella Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis gonzalezi Vshivkova, 1985
- Species †Sialis groehni Wichard, 1997
- Species Sialis hamata Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis hasta Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis henanensis X.-y. Liu & D. Yang, 2006
- Species †Sialis herrlingi Wichard, 2002
- Species Sialis imbecilla Say, 1823
- Species Sialis immarginata Say, 1823
- Species Sialis infumata Newman, 1838
- Species Sialis iola Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis itasca Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis japonica van der Weele, 1909
- Species Sialis jianfengensis D. Yang et al., 2002
- Species Sialis joppa Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis klingstedti Vshivkova, 1985
- Species Sialis kunmingensis X.-y. Liu & D. Yang, 2006
- Species Sialis levanidovae Vshivkova, 1980
- Species Sialis longidens Klingstedt, (1932)
- Species Sialis lutariaSialis lutariaSialis lutaria is a species of alderfly belonging to the order Megaloptera family Sialidae.This species is mainly present in Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania and Switzerland....
(Linnaeus, 1758) - Species Sialis martynovae Vshivkova, 1980
- Species Sialis melania Nakahara, 1915
- Subspecies Sialis melania kyushuensis Hayashi & Suda, 1995
- Subspecies Sialis melania melania Nakahara, 1915
- Subspecies Sialis melania tohokuensis Hayashi & Suda, 1995
- Subspecies Sialis melania toyamaensis Hayashi & Suda, 1995
- Species Sialis mohri Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis morio Klingstedt, (1933)
- Species Sialis morrisoni K. Davis, 1903
- Species Sialis muratensis Nel, 1988
- Species Sialis nevadensis K. Davis, 1903
- Species Sialis nigripes E. Pictet, 1865
- Species Sialis nina Townsend, 1939
- Species Sialis occidens Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis rotunda Banks, 1920
- Species Sialis sibirica McLachlan, 1872
- Species Sialis sinensis Banks, (1940)
- Species Sialis sordida Klingstedt, (1933)
- Species Sialis spangleri Flint, 1964
- Species Sialis strausi Illies, 1967
- Species Sialis vagans Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis vanderweelei U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck, 1983
- Species Sialis velata Ross, 1937
- Species Sialis versicoloris X.-y. Liu & D. Yang, 2006
- Species Sialis yamatoensis Hayashi & Suda, 1995
- Species Sialis zhiltzovae Vshivkova, 1985
- Genus Stenosialis Tillyard, (1919)
- Species Stenosialis australiensis Tillyard, (1919)
- Species Stenosialis hollowayi Theischinger, 1983
- Genus Austrosialis Tillyard, [1919]
Sialis lutaria is the most common alderfly in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and across much of Europe.