Southern Marsh Orchids

Southern Marsh Orchids

Monday 31 August 2015

Crane-fly

While moth trapping in Cwmbach, on the 29th August, these two crane-flies were amongst the catch. Having such distinctively marked wings, I thought I would have a good chance of identifying them, but that hasn't been the case and  so I thought I'd post the photos on here just in case. Even if I don't find out what they were, they were nice things to see, anyway.



Looking at the photos, it is clear that the dark markings are quite variable, even between individual wings on the same insect.

5 comments:

  1. No, venation, thoracic markings and shape of the genitalia (visible without dissection) are the main characters to determine craneflies. Wing markings may help to narrow things down but I wouldn't know where to start on this one. It does not look like the Tipula (Satvenshenka) sp. that I get in my garden.

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  2. Thanks Dave. I guessed as much, but thought I'd bung it on here anyway.

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  3. Is there a key available for Crane-flies?

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  4. No. There is one 'in preparation', but I don't think it is very near. I have a set of test keys that Pete Boardman gave us on the SEWBReC training day he did for us, but they should be used with caution - I can email them to you if you want.

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  5. Perhaps it would be best for me to wait for the publication of the completed keys.

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