Extraordinary high diversity of Geranomyia crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) in a small forested fragment of Zurqui, Costa Rica

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on the planet, yet they are the least studied. The Zurqui project was an attempt to see if an inventory of a megadiverse group of organisms (Diptera) could be accomplished using a small, forested area of Zurqui, Costa Rica. The project encompassed two years of sampling and included dipteran researchers from around the world who identified 4000 species of flies, most of these previously unknown and undescribed to science. There were 224 species of crane flies (Tipuloidea) found at Zurqui, and we have focused on describing the crane fly diversity beginning with the genus Geranomyia. Previous research recorded only 8 species of Geranomyia for all of Costa Rica, but we have discovered 24 species total from Zurqui alone, with 21 of these new to science, greater than the number of species of Geranomyia for all of North America. Our work documenting this diversity is through photography of key body parts, creating an identification key to the 70 regional species of Geranomyia, noting distinguishing features, and assembling description pages. We have been met with challenges such as the taxonomic impediment, slowing down our ability to describe these new species.