Antocha Osten Sacken, 1860

Podenas, Sigitas & Byun, Hye-Woo, 2013, Antochini crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae: Limoniinae) of Korea, Journal of Species Research 2 (2), pp. 167-184 : 168-169

Antocha Osten Sacken, 1860

Antocha Osten Sacken, 1859 ; Lackschewitz, 1940; Ishida, 1958; Alexander, 1968; Savchenko and Krivolutskaya, 1976; Savchenko, 1983; Torii, 1992b.

Taphrophila Rondani, 1856 ; Edwards, 1938; Lackschewitz and Pagast, 1942; Tjeder, 1958; Hutson and Vane-Wright, 1969.

Type species - Antocha saxicola Osten Sacken, 1859

Small to medium-sized crane flies with wing length ranging from 3.5 to 9.5 mm. General body coloration from brownish-yellow to brown, gray or nearly black. Antenna simple, flagellomere with ring of verticils at base. The genus Antocha could be easily separated from others by wing shape and venation. Wing generally wide with large, nearly right-angled cell a 2. Wing nearly translucent, usually whitish, sometimes darkened and usually spotless. Vein Sc very close to vein R, Sc 1 ends close to branching point of Rs; Sc 2 indistinct or absent; R 1 elongate, but very close to frontal wing margin; R 2 is situated beyond R 1 tip, but very light; radial sector (Rs) long and straight, usually starts before middle of wing; discal cell small, sometimes absent due to reduction of cross-vein mq; basal section of CuA 1 usually before branching point of M, but sometimes at, or beyond the branching point; vein A 2 straight and relatively short. Prescutum without tubercular pits and pseudosutural foveas. Legs usually long and slender, usually covered with semi-erect hairs, sometimes wide and covered with strong, erect setae and short spines. Male terminalia slightly wider than rest of abdomen. Ninth tergite transverse, ninth sternite separated from tergite; gonocoxite elongate, cylindrical, often with rounded hairy mesal lobe; two pairs of terminal gonostyles. Lower pair of gonostyles usually darkened and strongly sclerotised; edeagal complex modified, with two or one pair of gonapophyses; penis large and usually with curved apex. Ovipositor with straight or slightly arched cercus, lower margin straight, but in some species saw-shaped.

There are 155 species belonging to the genus Antocha worldwide ( Oosterbroek, 2013). They are grouped into three subgenera ( Antocha Osten Sacken, 1860 , Orimargula Mik, 1883 and Proantocha Alexander, 1919). The genus Antocha is known from most biogeographic regions, but is completely missing in South America. It is most diverse in Oriental Region, where it is represented by 74 species, with highest diversity and endemism in India, from where nearly third of all Antocha species are described (50 species). Oriental Region is followed by Palaearctic, which has 43 species. Additional seven species are shared between Palaearctic and Oriental. Nearctic is characterised by seven species, one of which is known also from Neotropics. 21 species are known from Afrotropics, two species from Australia and one species from Oceania ( Papua New Guinea) (Table 2).

Body of Antocha larvae slender, tapering posteriorly, ending caudally in two elongate ventral lobes, which bear a few hairs at their tips and at intervals along their length. Abdominal segments II-VII each with ventral and dorsal creeping welts. Tracheal gills four in number, large, constricted into four lobes. Larvae apneustic, without spiracles, unique for Antocha among all crane flies. Head capsule moderate in size, compact and not reduced, what is typical for most of Limoniinae . Hypostoma with nine or ten teeth, deeply split posteriorly ( Alexander, 1920; Oosterbroek and Theowald, 1991).

Pupal body large at the anterior end, tapering posteriorly. Head with a small median lobe frontally, a small tubercle on either side of it; genae gibbous. Pronotal breathing horns large, flattened, the margin branching into eight long filaments. Abdominal segments on basal ring with a double transverse row of small hooks which converge at the ends, last segment of body terminating in two strong, recurved, chitinized hooks ( Alexander, 1920; Oosterbroek and Theowald, 1991). Larvae and pupae develop in fast running streams. They usually could be found in gravel or attached to the boulders ( V. Podeniene, personal communication).

Two fossil species of Antocha are described: one from Oligocene deposits of North America ( Evenhuis, 1994), the other, which preliminary was placed in this genus, from Early Cretaceous Burmese amber ( Podenas and Poinar, 2009).