id for this midge-type thing pls ?

[galanthus]

Looked pretty nasty in the summer house, would like to think the long thing is for biting birds etc rather than humans

[bugbotherer]

I put up some similar flies. They are Empids or 'snipe flies' but that's as faw as my id'ing goes. Male empids present nuptual gifts to the females so as not to be a snack themselves

[Laurence Clemons]

It is Empis livida.

[galanthus]

Thanks guys Is the long spike thing their bite ? If not what do they use it for ?

[Laurence Clemons]

Originally Posted by galanthus

Thanks guys Is the long spike thing their bite ? If not what do they use it for ?

It is called the rostrum. They use it for sucking the juices of insect prey.

[Dogghound]

Arnt some Empids haematophagous?

[Laurence Clemons]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Arnt some Empids haematophagous?

Not in this country. I have been 'bitten' by most kinds of British insect but never by an Empidid. In Britain the only flies capable of sucking blood are species of Culicidae (mosquitoes), Ceratopogonidae (Biting midges), Simuliidae (Blackflies), Tabanidae (Horseflies) and Muscidae (Stable flies).

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Laurence Clemons

Not in this country. I have been 'bitten' by most kinds of British insect but never by an Empidid. In Britain the only flies capable of sucking blood are species of Culicidae (mosquitoes), Ceratopogonidae (Biting midges), Simuliidae (Blackflies), Tabanidae (Horseflies) and Muscidae (Stable flies).

Cheers laurence

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by Laurence Clemons

It is called the rostrum. They use it for sucking the juices of insect prey.

I'm so happy to be human sometimes