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Photo#1399350
Male Square-Headed Snakefly - Negha - male

Male Square-Headed Snakefly - Negha - Male
Lick Observatory, Mt Hamilton, Santa Clara County, California, USA
May 19, 2017
Found in the morning on the cool, shaded western wall of the Lick Observatory building, along with other interesting insects. I presume they were still torpid from resting there overnight...likely attracted to the large bright walls by lights on the preceding night.

Even with the oblique view, the posterior corners of the head can be seen to be "squared" here. That, and the relatively long stigma lacking a cross-vein...as well as the relatively coarse antennal segments...support an ID of Negha here . Our other snakefly genera, Agulla or Alena, of the subfamily Raphidiidae, have a cross-vein present in the stigma of the front wing, and narrower antennae.

The truncate terminalia here (no ovipositor) indicate a male.