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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for March 17, 1999
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When did the first flies evolve?
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The first true flies were Tanyderid crane flies that flew 225 million
years ago. They looked something like today's mosquitoes, and their
larvae lived in swamp mud or wet sand.
Crane flies appeared during the Triassic Period, when the first large
dinosaurs were alive. Since then, the true flies (members of the
order Diptera) have evolved into over 100,000 different species, on
every continent except Antarctica. Flies are the most widespread
insects on the planet.
Today, the most primitive crane flies are quite rare, but other kinds
of crane flies that evolved more recently are more common. Maybe you
have seen them attracted to lights at night, like huge mosquitoes with
extremely long legs.
More about the very first flies:
http://www2.sel.barc.usda.gov/Diptera/tanyder.htm
Crane flies make good fishing bait, according to these fishermen:
http://www.troutunlimited.org/cranfly.htm
http://fly-fish.com/cranefly.html
Previous Cool Facts about flies:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/09/01.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/01/20.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/07/21.html
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