Unidentified insect - long segmented abdomen

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Howdy,

Couldn't find any images of adults on WAB, so here's one:


It seems some species have earth dwelling larvae (as opposed to corticole) but I have no idea if this applies to the British species.

@poschiavanus:

Would you have a name for the 5th species or is it yet to be confirmed/identified?

Also, you seem to have the Stresemann, right? Any ideas on my fly? Xanthostigma xanthostigma or might it also be Dichrostigma flavipes?? (would be the 1st for NL I think )

Thanks!
Arp

Did you ever find out what species this was?

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Hi Neil,

You any good with those then? I have my imago pinned for X.x at the mo - can you confirm that, or is it not really possible to ID it?

Cheers! Arp

lol just saw this after posting

I wouldnt say Im great - ive only seen one and Im using The Collins photo insect book which has photos of Atlantaraphidia maculicollis and Xanthostigma xanthostigma and short distinguishing descriptions for them and the other 2 confirmed species.

This Book says X.x has a pale yellow pterostigma with one cross veination. The photo in the bottom left seems to show some yellow colouration and the one cross veination fits. The other species with one cross veination is Atlantaraphidia maculicollis but it states that the pterostigma in the forewing of this species starts half way along the elogate cell behind it and extends beyond it. In Xanthostigma xanthostigma it starts at the same point as the cell behind it. The only other candidate is Subilla confinis but this has a brown or black pterostigma.

So I reckon its I]Xanthostigma xanthostigma [/i]

[Toby]

great find, I have only seen one Snake fly which was about 7 feet up an Oak tree but I was able to climb up and get a shot (Sheen Woods, SW London)

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Neil - quite a pleasant surprise to see this thread reappear after almost 3 months .

Nice shot Toby - the winged adult is quite striking and most definitely on my want-to-see list!

Bruce

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Bruce Williams

Thanks Neil - quite a pleasant surprise to see this thread reappear after almost 3 months .

Nice shot Toby - the winged adult is quite striking and most definitely on my want-to-see list!

Bruce

I writing an article on snakeflies for my blog and it popped up in a search for my thread asking where to see them

I got 'slightly' exicted when I found my only one earlier this year, I sat in my gfs car only for one to fly in. She started to lose patience after about 20mins of me trying to focus on it lol

[Pudding4brains]

Ever since this topic, I've been steadily collecting 'knowledge' and old (preferably Public Domain) documents in order to be able to prepare an online key for the Dutch species by the start of the next Snakefly-imago-season in spring.

Been sorting through that pile just now, but didn't arrive at anything presentable just yet. Would have liked to present a 'scratchpad' of neat links and literature, but it's just too much of a mess still - lots of stuff there and all nicely mixed in with all sorts of different interpretations of the group 'Neuroptera' etc so it's a bit of work to filter through to the good Snakefly bits

Will have a closer look at the Toby's beast tomorrow (have a few keys now) and maybe come up with some larvae-related links, as that's what the thread was originally about

Good night! Arp

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Toby,

Originally Posted by Toby

I was able to climb up and get a shot

Did you only get the one shot or do you happen to have another one where the wing is a tad more in-focus (or a bigger crop of the wing or pterostigma area)?

I strongly suspect this to be a fairly fresh specimen, with the almost white wing venation, so the pterostigma colours are probably iffy to go by, but maybe the veins can tell us more ...

Do you remember how big it was?

Cheers, Arp