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Nephrotoma australasiae
A delicate mosquito-like fly with long legs and slender body about 25mm long. The thorax has distinct dark markings, with a median inverted "v". The abdomen has annular dark markings giving it a striped look. This crane fly was slightly thicker in the abdomen suggesting that it might be female. Pic #1 shows one of the pair of halteres, seen as a knob stuck on a slender stalk. This is the reduced and modified hind wing used for balancing.
dry schlerophyll forest with open grassland
I spotted this crane fly with a million others hovering around and walking around short grass. I am unsure if this is significant but they seemed to favour spots with rabbit droppings.
The larvae of these flies are called "leather jackets" - they live on grass roots and known to be pests on cricket grounds.
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Nephrotoma...
Belongs to the Family Tipulidae in Order Diptera
Spotted on Apr 28, 2012
Submitted on Apr 28, 2012
1 Comment
Nice