1. Forums
  2. Learn about flies
  3. Dicranomyia fusca?

Dicranomyia fusca?

Submitted by Cathy_B on

Hi,

I suspect I've taken a wrong turn but I ended up on Limoniinae when working through the key (Pete Boardman's Shropshire Craneflies). The specimen has hairs on the wing veins towards the tip so I thought Dicranomyia fusca more likely but any pointers would be most welcome! Wing length ~7mm. Collected from birch/alder woodland.

Many thanks in advance.

Comments

Hi Cathy, 

D. fusca has hairs on the wing cells rather than just veins, so I suspect this is either D. chorea or D. mitis from the wing photos. The legs are missing which help separate the two - as does looking at the genitalia under the microscope. The Stubbs and Kramer key (available from Catalogue of the Craneflies of the World literature section) (it was available on the old DF site but I'm not sure yet if it is here) illustrates the genitalia and that's your best next step. 

Cheers Pete

Stubbs, A.E.; Kramer. J. 2016i. Key to Limoniid craneflies with a closed discal cell, by Alan Stubbs, 2001, revised by John Kramer, 2016. Published by the authors as PDF (17 pages); date of latest version: 19 June 2018

Hi Pete,

Sorry this took me  while; I settled on Dicranomyia mitis in the end as the apex of the yellow femur seems diffuse. I struggled with ID from the genitalia (I reached the limit of magnification) but perhaps you could give me some pointers on the photos attached?

Many thanks in advance,

Cathy B