I saw this creature while taking a picture of my Astrantia plant in the garden with a macro lens not having seen one before I sent off the picture to the Royal Entomological Society and got a interesting reply back see bottom of photo.
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Dear David,
yes, a non-biting midge or gnat that looks superficially like a mosquito. No biting mouthparts and indeed they do not feed as adults. Most have aquatic living larvae and their presence is used to rank water quality. They can swarm in v large numbers. Their txonomy is a challenge as there are >600 sp in the UK - a recently published key to their identification may be obtained from the Freshwater Association.
regards,
John Badmin
RES Regional secretary
yes, a non-biting midge or gnat that looks superficially like a mosquito. No biting mouthparts and indeed they do not feed as adults. Most have aquatic living larvae and their presence is used to rank water quality. They can swarm in v large numbers. Their txonomy is a challenge as there are >600 sp in the UK - a recently published key to their identification may be obtained from the Freshwater Association.
regards,
John Badmin
RES Regional secretary
Are we back to the Wellcome Allotment and Blogger?
ReplyDeleteYes I am running both, as I use a blog as a diary I didnt want to lose my posts on this one
DeleteSo when will your plot be designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest? You are a bit of a dab hand with the macro lens, David!
ReplyDeleteI don`t know for how much longer the old knees are going
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