Charlie Chaplin Long-legged Fly (Campsicnemus charliechaplini)

The Charlie Chaplin Long-legged Fly was described in 1996.:

“This species is named in honor to the great silent movie comedian, Charlie Chaplin, because of the curious tendency of this fly to die with its midlegs in a bandy-legged position.” [1]

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The species was endemic to the Wai’anae Mountains on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i Islands, where it inhabited small, quiet pools of freshwater along the edges of the upper reaches of the Halenau stream near the summit of Mt. Ka’ala. It was a water-skating species that fed upon small invertebrates that fell onto the water surface, including carcasses of its own conspecifics.

The Charlie Chaplin Long-legged Fly reached a length of about 0,2 to 0,25 cm, it was more or less completely brown colored, the legs were brown to yellowish brown, its wings were 0,28 to 0,29 cm long. [1]

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The former habitat of the species is now overrun by the introduced weed Maui Pamakani (Ageratina adenophora (Spreng.) King & H. E. Robins), which, despite its trivial name is in no way native to the Hawaiian Islands.

The Charlie Chaplin Long-legged Fly was last seen in 1997, it is almost certainly completely extinct – only one year after its description. [2]

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References:

[1] Neal L. Evenhuis: New species of Campsicnemus from the Waianae Range of Oahu, Hawaii (Diptera: Dolichopodidae). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 45: 54-58. 1996
[2] Neal L. Evenhuis: Lectotype Designations for Hawaiian Campsicnemus Haliday (Diptera: Dolichopodidae). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 95. 17-37. 2007

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edited: 03.12.2018