Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Spectacular cranefly: Dictenidia or Ctenophora?
Posted by nick upton on 11-06-2010 17:30
#1
Can anyone say if this big, showy female Tipulid is Dictenidia bimaculata or Ctenophora elegans, or something similar. Abdominal markings look more like the former, head marking more like latter, but no doubt the wing veins / marks are more definitive and I don't have a key. Both of these are quite scarce in the UK I believe, but it could be something else!.
c18mm Wiltshire garden 11.6.10
Edited by nick upton on 11-06-2010 17:33
Posted by nick upton on 11-06-2010 17:32
#2
more in profile:
Edited by nick upton on 11-06-2010 17:33
Posted by oxycera on 11-06-2010 19:58
#3
Looks just like one I photographed a few days ago (see barnsleywildlife). Ctenophora pectinicornis.
Posted by nick upton on 11-06-2010 20:17
#4
OK, many thanks. Yes, sorry, I meant to put C. pectinicornis not elegans as one of my options and have read since that D. bimaculata has 2 black spots on the wings (as its name suggests) so C. pectinicornis looks right unless anyone says not! Seems to considered widespread but scarce in the UK, associated with dead wood eg beech. We have a huge beech tree nearby...
Posted by oxycera on 11-06-2010 22:17
#5
NickU wrote:
so C. pectinicornis looks right unless anyone says not!
Depends who says it!
Posted by nick upton on 13-06-2010 21:36
#6
Very true... All replies are welcome (well usually anyway...) but some are more definitive than others!