The genus Limonia Meigen, 1803 is globally distributed with 216 known species/subspecies, of which 30 are recorded from China. In this study, we firstly use DNA barcodes (mt COI) to identify specimens of Limonia from China, result in a discovery of three species. Considering the morphological data, these species were identified as L. albiterminalis Lü, Ren & Zhang, sp. nov., L. juvenca Alexander, 1935 (new record in China), and L. macrostigma (Schummel, 1829), respectively. Six COI sequences of the three species were provided, analyzed with other 24 COI sequences from Limonia species. The result indicates that intraspecific distances in the genus are generally less than 2.2%, interspecific distances range from 7.9% to 17.2%, and there is no overlap between intra- and interspecific distances. Redescription and illustrations of L. juvenca and illustration of male hypopygium of L. macrostigma, as well as the key to the Chinese Limonia crane flies, are all provided.

The genus Limonia Meigen, 1803 is globally distributed with 216 known species/subspecies, of which 30 are recorded from China. In this study, we firstly use DNA barcodes (mt COI) to identify specimens of Limonia from China, result in a discovery of three species. Considering the morphological data, these species were identified as L. albiterminalis Lü, Ren & Zhang, sp. nov., L. juvenca Alexander, 1935 (new record in China), and L. macrostigma (Schummel, 1829), respectively. Six COI sequences of the three species were provided, analyzed with other 24 COI sequences from Limonia species. The result indicates that intraspecific distances in the genus are generally less than 2.2%, interspecific distances range from 7.9% to 17.2%, and there is no overlap between intra- and interspecific distances. Redescription and illustrations of L. juvenca and illustration of male hypopygium of L. macrostigma, as well as the key to the Chinese Limonia crane flies, are all provided.