Ident help please

Stephen R · #1 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 09:57 AM

I'd be very grateful for any help with these. All in Lancashire, except that one of the Sepsis couples was in Yorkshire - but I don't suppose they take much notice of county boundaries!

JRsbugs · #2 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 02:20 PM

Hi Stephen,

#1 is a Sawfly but I can't say which one.
#2 is Cecidomyiidae sp., I had the very same one but you won't find even a Genus let alone a species name for this!

Sepsid flies can be difficult, I have been taking pics of the one with yellow at the top of the legs so might be able to get an ID.

Janet

JRsbugs · #3 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 02:30 PM

#3 looks like it belongs to the Family Hybotidae, can't tell you which except it looks like the illustration on the family heading on diptera.info.

Diptera.info - Photo Albums

oxycera · #4 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 04:36 PM

Sawfly probably Dolerus gonager.
Don't think the fly is an empid to be honest; looks more like simulidae to me, but that isn't a family I'm knowledgable about so could be something else.

Stephen R · #5 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 05:41 PM

Thank you both very much. I've only been photographing insects with any success since I went digital about a year ago, and it is great to have your help with all these things I've never been able to see properly before.

JRsbugs · #6 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 06:39 PM

Thats how it started with me Stephen, wait until you have to get a better camera, then a better lens as I did!

oxy, "empid" belongs to Empididae not Hybotidae surely? I'm no expert on the subject either but I do see the likeness in Simuliidae, there is one in the Gallery which looks very close except the hump doesn't look big enough.

Dogghound · #7 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 07:58 PM

The sepsid is most likely Sepsis cynipsea, going on colour and morphology. But they are not a group that are ideal to ID from a photo, best under a microscope with other specimens at hand.