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Family Chironomidae
A very common and widespread family of flies, found near aquatic systems. The males have feathery antennae (the antennae are not those long forelegs, which I thought they were for some time!). Midge larvae are widely known as bloodworms and used in fishing. Adults are eaten by insectivorous fish and birds (like swallows or martins).
Aquatic systems - lakes, ponds, rivers etc.
This is a female midge, spotted in some woodland just next to wetland
Spotted on May 8, 2011
Submitted on May 8, 2011
8 Comments
Laura: Well done on the family ID... wonder if we will get a genus or species from someone. Good work.
Okay did a little more digging, apparently midges can be up to 18mm big! Did not know that! This is apparently a female chironomid midge! Also means that Junior was right when he suggested Dipteran... For a while I thought it was a Hempiteran like a lacehopper!
Wow, well this looks pretty similar, although it was found in the States http://bugguide.net/node/view/232412/bgp... But I remember this guy being bigger than a midge! He was probably about 15mm big. It fits though... what do you guys think?
I'd thought of those too, because it made sense if I found it near wetland. But then I realised that what I thought were really long antennae are actually its front legs!! Its real antennae are super short. I'm stumped on it.
Order: Trichoptera (Caddisflys)?
Order: Plecoptera (Stoneflys)?
just guessing actually.
Thanks dungeonmasterShu, I submitted it to the What's That Bug? in the hopes that they might be able to steer me in the right direction! Junior, I don't think it's a dipteran since those are true flies... this doesn't look like a fly! But yes, it was hard to get so close without disturbing him haha!
awesome pic, anyone have any ideas as to what this is?
Hey Laura :)
It's a Dipteran.
To be so close like this you have to be very patience ;)
Júnior