Limoniidae Speiser, 1909 (1840)

This family is one of the most species-rich families of the Diptera. Like other Tipulomorpha, the adults are slender flies with elongate, rather narrow wings and very long legs. They are highly diverse in many respects, including size which ranges from tiny species of Tasiocera Skuse, 1890, subgenus Dasymolophilus Goetghebuer, 1920, with a wing and body length of about 2 mm, to the large Eutonia barbipes, with a wing often over 20 mm and a body (in female) of almost 30 mm. Adult Limoniidae may be diagnosed by certain peculiarities in the structure of the thoracic sclerites and the male terminalia. The larvae usually occur in water, in waterlogged soil, under damp leaf mould, in decaying wood, fungi, or similar substrates. A few genera, or individual species, live in hygropetric situations and feed on algae. A considerable proportion of the larvae are phytosaprophagous (including the saproxylic species), but some may exceptionally affect living plant tissue. Some species are mycetophagous (Metalimnobia Matsumura, 1911), or predatory (subfamily Limnophilinae Bigot, 1854). Like their larvae, the adults are predominantly associated with moist environments and are usually found in low vegetation alongside streams, lakes and other water bodies, in swamps and marshes of various types, in damp forests, and similar habitats. Like the Trichoceridae and Pediciidae, many Limoniidae may be seen swarming late on sunny afternoons with little or no wind or at dusk.

Of the 583 species-group taxa known to occur in Europe (calculated from Oosterbroek 2009 and including most recently described species), 335 species are listed in the present checklist: 293 species from the Czech Republic  (220 in Bohemia and 277 in Moravia) and 314 from Slovakia. Compared with the PCV2, 28 species have been added for the Czech Republic (44 in Bohemia and 23 in Moravia) and 21 species for Slovakia. Some names have been changed or have been omitted for various reasons that are noted in the checklist. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are among the best-investigated countries in Europe for the Limoniidae, but further additions are still possible, of species known to occur in adjacent countries or species that are still undescribed.

The most complete treatment of the Central European Limoniidae (including the Pediciidae), with keys to species, is by Savchenko (1982, 1985, 1986) on the Ukrainian fauna. However, subsequent papers should be consulted to ensure correct identification. The work by Podenas et al. (2006) on the Swiss Limoniidae and Pediciidae represents the most recent identification tool. The genera and subgenera can be identified using the keys by Dienske (1987) and Reusch and Oosterbroek (1997). The nomenclature adopted in this checklist is summarised in Oosterbroek (2009); subspecies category is avoided.

The work was supported by grants 206/04/1170 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and MSM619859212 from the Czech Ministry of Education.