Insects: Native Species
Scientific name: Campsicnemus brevipes
Common name(s): Hawaiian long-legged fly
Status: Endemic
Habitat: Riffles and cascades in streams
Preferred Area of Stream: Highly oxygenated, clean and cool water in heavily flowing areas on wetted boulders and rocks.
Range in Hawai‘i: O‘ahu, Maui , and Hawai‘i Islands
Diet: Both larvae and adults are predatory and the adults feed by sucking the juices from soft-bodied animals after they are crushed or milled by the labella or mouthparts.
Predators: Predatory insects such as larval and adult damselflies and dragonflies, native and introduced fish.
Fact: Campsicnemus brevipes adults are smallish but beautiful metallic blue-green bodied aquatic flies with long legs and the adults are easily distinguished from others in the long-legged fly family by the swollen middle femur and two large and thick bristles at the front of the middle femur, or trochanter. This species hangs around the fast-white water areas of the stream and is normally not easily observed until it is collected in your aquatic net. |
