ESSEX CRANE-FLIES
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in northern Essex are Dicranomyia sericata Mg. (known in Hert-
fordshire and Kent), Dicranota pavida Hal. (known from a
calcareous wood in Berkshire; see Elbourn, 1965) and Eloeophila
submarmorata Verrall (known in Kent and Berkshire, see
Elbourn, 1965).
One type of ground which has not been adequately worked
for crane-flies in Essex is brackish coastal marsh, of which there
are of course extensive areas, particularly in South Essex. A few
species which seem to be characteristic of this specialised habitat
are likely to occur, notably Dicranomyia complicata de Meij., D.
ventralis Schummel and D. danica Kuntze, all known from Kent
(Mr R. I. Vane-Wright, pers. comm.), and the first-named also
known from Suffolk.
No comprehensive published lists of the crane-flies of any
neighbouring counties are yet available, but Dr F. W. Edwards,
who lived at Knebworth, Herts., included many Hertfordshire
records in his 1938 monograph, and of these the following 18
species have not so far been found in Essex:—Diogma glabrata,
Mg., Limonia dilutior Edw., Dicranomyia lucida de Meij., D.
sericata, Rhipidia ctenophora Loew, R. uniseriata Schiner,
Taphrophila vitripennis Mg., Thaumastoptera calceata Mik,
Crypteria limnophiloides Berg., Gonomyia tenella Mg., Cheilo-
trichia flava Sch., C. imbuta Mg., Erioptera divisa Walker, E.
fusculenta Edw., Trimicra pilipes F., Ormosia bicornis de Meij.,
Rhypholophus bifurcata Goet. and Molophilus bifidus Goet. In
a 1924 paper on the genus Tipula, Edwards recorded T. selene
Mg. and T. truncorum Macq. from Hertfordshire, while in the
British Museum collection there are also Hertfordshire specimens
of T. pruinosa Wiedemann, Nephrotoma scurra Mg., and Cteno-
phora ornata Mg. Freeman (1951) records Tasiocera murina. Mg.
from Hertfordshire. None of these species has been seen in Essex.
Additionally Edwards (1938) records from Cambridgeshire
the following crane-flies not yet on the Essex list: Limnophila
pictipennis Mg., Gnophomyia higubris Zett., Lipophleps abbreviata
Loew (also recorded from Middlesex), Erioptera meijerei Edw.
and Rhypholophus varia Mg. (I have excluded from this list those
species known only from the Fens, since this is a habitat not
paralleled in Essex). Burk (1961) adds Limonia masoni Edw.
to the Cambridgeshire list.
The great majority of these "missing" Essex species are insects
of wet woodland, and it is hard to believe that Hertfordshire, a
county less than half the size, contains any significantly more
extensive or suitable areas of this kind of habitat than Essex.
Surrey and Kent are both being actively worked for crane-
flies at present. My friend Mr A. E. Stubbs is doing a great deal
of ecological sampling in Surrey, and at present his list for the
county (unpublished) totals 152 species of Tipulidae. Despite its
relatively small size, Surrey is richer than Essex in variety of
habitats and incomparably richer in the extent of its uncultivated
areas, and in particular the Greensand and Tertiary sand forma-