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THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Essex Crane-flies
By R. M. Payne, F.R.E.S.
This paper contains some new Essex county and vice-county
records of crane-flies (Diptera: Tipulidae and allied families), and
discusses the known tipulid fauna of Essex in relation to those of
some neighbouring counties.
The following records are additional either to the Essex list
(species marked with an asterisk) or to the list for one of the vice-
counties. Of the localities mentioned more than once, Woodham
Walter and Loughton are in South Essex (Vice-county 18); and
Hatfield Forest, Colchester, Newport, Harlow and the Lea at Little
Hallingbury are in North Essex (V-c. 19). The few records for
"Epping" or "Epping Forest" (not further localised) are assumed
to relate to South Essex, in which of course much the greater part
of the Forest lies. Unless otherwise indicated, the records are
my own, and are supported by specimens in my collection.
Nomenclature is according to Coe et al. (1950).
TIPULIDAE
*Tipula signata Staeger. A single male by a stream in the
northern part of Hatfield Forest, 14 October 1961.
T. unca Wiedemann. Two males taken in a swampy wood by the
Stort Navigation at Harlow Mill, 12 June 1960.
*T. solstitialis Westhoff. At the margin of the lake in Hatfield
Forest, 24 July 1960 and 10 July 1966.
T. paludosa Meigen. A virtually ubiquitous species, but there
appears to be no published record for North Essex. I
noted it at Matching Green on 10 September 1960.
T. luna Westhoff. Very abundant at the margins of the lake in
Hatfield Forest on 14 June 1962; females taken at Debden
Water, Newport, on 9 June 1962 and 30 May 1964.
Nephrotoma flavipalpis (Meigen). A female taken on a bramble
leaf in a woodland ride in Hatfield Forest, 29 July 1962.
N. flavescens (L.). In the marsh at the head of the lake in Hat-
field Forest, 10 July 1966.
Cylindrotoma distinctissima Meigen. A male on Stinging Nettle
in a woodland glade near Newport, 30 May 1964.
Limonia (Metalimnobia) bifasciata (Schrank). A female on
Stinging Nettle at the edge of a wood, Hatfield Forest, 24
July 1960.
L. (L.) nigropunctata Schummel. This species was recorded for
"Essex" by the great dipterist F. W. Edwards (1938). Mr.
A. M. Hutson has kindly looked up the specimens in the
British Museum (Natural History) and tells me that they