New record of Pilaria crane flies(Diptera: Limoniidae) from Korea

This study is based on crane fly specimens collected during more than 80 years, starting from 1938 through 2019, in the Republic of Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea and are in collections maintained at the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA; the Snow Entomological Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA; and the National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, South Korea. Pilaria crane flies are aquatic and semiaquatic, developing in fast running and stagnant water bodies and in wet muddy places at the margins of water pools. Such habitats usually prevail at lower altitudes, but these areas most often are used for agriculture and human settlement, making natural habitats scarce and fragmented. Pilaria crane flies are rare, thus it is not surprising that genus was left unnoticed by previous researchers. The genus Pilaria Sintenis, 1889 with two species P. melanota Alexander, 1922 and P. simulans Savchenko, 1983, is a new record for the Korean Peninsula. We present general information on the genus, redescriptions of species based on Korean specimens, illustrations of both sexes, elevation range, period of activity, habitat information, general distribution, and a distribution map for the Korean Peninsula for each species.