What's this?

[RobM77]

Hi there,

I'm new here :-) I'm very interested in looking at and photographing different insects, but I'm stumped as to what this is:



He/she appeared whilst I was doing the washing up just now. Sorry for the poor quality of photograph- I couldn't get it against a better backdrop!

Could anyone tell me what it is please? Google's useless! :-)

thanks,

Rob

[Hedera]

Some kind of saw-fly; Xiphydriidae? Scary!!

[oxycera]

definitely a cranefly, maybe Tanyptera atrata - but that's without checking

[Hedera]

Of course it is - need new specs!

[RobM77]

Excellent, thanks very much

Here's a piture of a Tanyptera atrata that I found on Google, and it's certainly the same insect:



Thanks very much!

It's also been a great day for looking at my favourite invertebrates - Zebra Jumping Spiders. They're all over the house today I've got some great photos, which is why I had the camera handy when this fly turned up! It was about 5cm long if I remember rightly.