Brown bug with green legs and swollen antennae

[Bruce Williams]

Northants garden.

Help with identification appreciated:



Bruce

[Kayleigh]

Hi Bruce,

It looks like a Heterotoma planicornis, great shot again..

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks for your help Elaine. Seem to be quite a lot of these around just now - do you know if it's possible to identify gender?

Bruce

[Jason Green]

Evening Bruce,

Agree with Elaine. Gender - best with exact side-on shots. This is I would say female - they take up most of the space under the wings, whereas males are thinner and stop about 20-25% before the the tip of the wings. Here you'll see the bottom-side of the abdomen gently curves up - signifying the presence of an ovipositor. Males' are often steeper with a small hook - the paramere - on show.

Take care,

Jason

[Kayleigh]

I only found out what it was a few days back as I found one in my garden..

I couldn't answer your question so glad Jason stepped in..

[Bruce Williams]

Jason - Thanks for for your help and info. on gender. Here's a pic taken from the other side showing slightly more of the abdomen.

Elaine - That's the wonderful thing about nature - always something new!



Bruce

[Kayleigh]

Yes and aren't these fascinating little things with the fluffy antenna.