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Photo#37591
Hangingfly IMG_9752 - Bittacus

Hangingfly IMG_9752 - Bittacus
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, USA
June 24, 2005
Size: Over 20mm
Crane Fly? Thought it was a lace-wing at first because of the way the wings are folded and the wing pattern.

Moved
Moved from Bittacus.

tentative ID and sex
This is strigosus or stigmaterus, probably strigosus. Sex is uncertain, but it looks like a female.

 
More Images From Same Location
I added more images here of what I think is the same species. The shots were taken in the same area. There is a lot more detail.

Thanks for the tentative ID. Is there a way to differentiate between the two species?

 
Steve, Assuming these spe
Steve,

Assuming these specimens are the same species, which appears to be the case, then what you have is a female of strigosus. Apart from the male genitalia, which are quite distinctive, there are a few subtle ways to distinguish them. Generally, strigosus has many of its cross veins emarginated, more so than stigmaterus, although there seems to be a lot of variation from one place to another (but one must be careful, because punctiger and pilicornis can have emarginated wing veins too). From the specimens I have seen, strigosus also has slightly shorter, slightly finer or more slender antennae, although strigosus also sometimes has short antennae. But strigosus seems to never have them longer than the prothoracic tibia, unlike in other species.

Hangin' Bangin' n' Slangin'
Looks like a hangingfly (Bittacidae), which is in the Mecoptera.
For example

 
Yes, genus Bittacus
This should be a Bittacus, see guide page.

Nice photo, these are rather hard to approach at times.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

 
Thank you
Thank you

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