Some insects for ID please

[pressld2]

Spent a couple of hours at Stodmarsh yesterday and found myself in insect heaven!

I've identified several species but there are several more that I could use some help with. These are:

A couple of mayflies...



These may be the same species - I'm not sure how much variation in colour there is between different individuals or with the age of the insect. Collins shows six species, three of which can be ruled out straight away as they have three 'tails' and these don't look like any of the other three to me.

Next a mosquito (or possibly a non-biting midge - is there a real difference or are they all in the same family?)...



I'm fairly sure the feathery antennae mean it's a male and it could be one of the chironomids.

Speaking of which, is this a female chironomid...?



Apart from missing the feathery antennae she's very similar to this chap...



...who I'm pretty confident is a mle chironomid, possibly C. luridus.

Lastly there's this fly...



(The last photo is a different individual but I think it's the same species.) Don't really know where to start with this one.

I'm definitely getting better though! I managed to identify all of these taken at the same time, and most of them I recognised while I was photographing them. I couldn't have done that a year ago!

Green Carpet:


Nettle Tap:


Scorpion Fly:


Crane Fly (Tipula oleracea):


Ground Beetle (Pterostichus cupreus):


Yellow Dung Fly:


All these insects were found in the same patch of nettles about two square metres in size.

Dave P.

[Jason Green]

Wow, seems great! Anything under the leaves?

...
#5 is a Heleomyzidae sp.

Yes, any midge lacking feathered antennae would be a girl.

Nice shots as per!

[JRsbugs]

The last fly is (should say looks like but I'm not seeing stripy eyes) Sciomyzidae, looks very much like Elgiva solicita.

#2 is a mosquito, backs legs raised when resting, non-biting midges raise front legs.

#3 & 4 female and male Chironomidae

Janet

[pressld2]

Thanks Jason, it was worth bunking off work for! (They owed me a few hours as I was working until 8pm on Tuesday).

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Anything under the leaves?

Quite a few of these...



And some larger spiders too, but they wouldn't hang around to have their picture taken. Spiders tend to be much more timid than insects in my experience.

Dave P.

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

#5 is a Heleomyzidae sp.

Sorry, I may need to downgrade my certainty on that, it's starting to look a bit more Sciomyzidae... a snail-killing fly from the tall-ish pale face and narrow abdomen

EDIT: Just realised that's the same as Janet's ID...

[pressld2]

Thanks Janet!

You're right, no sign of stripy eyes. Here's a hard crop on the head...



It reminded my quite a bit of the yellow dung fly but redder and not quite so "chunky" looking. Could it be a scathophagid?

Dave P.

[JRsbugs]

It certainly does look like Sciomyzidae, wing markings, face, antennae. Check out Elgiva solicita on diptera.info, maybe this one just didn't get any stripes . The pics don't show them to be heavily striped. The only other thing is the dark vein on the wing looks more curved than in yours but that may be a trick of the angle.

Diptera.info - Photo Albums: Sciomyzidae

[Lesinlondon]

Quote "Speaking of which, is this a female chironomid...?"

I'd be interested in this one too. I have this pic from last year, looks like same species as your one above.

[JRsbugs]

Originally Posted by Lesinlondon

Quote "Speaking of which, is this a female chironomid...?"

I'd be interested in this one too. I have this pic from last year, looks like same species as your one above.

I would say a Chironomus sp., they have the small cross vein on the wings.

Janet