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Photo#1825904
Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male

Dixidae! Dixella male? - Dixella californica - Male
Nogales, San Francisco County, California, USA
June 2, 2020
Size: wing length 4 mm
Found at UV light on a warm night (daytime high in San Francisco around 80 F, ambient T about 65 F at time of collection, little to no wind), collected into ethanol. I thought this was a small crane fly in the field, so was very excited and surprised to see that the wing veins and other features seem to match Dixidae! My only worry is the possible presence of minute ocelli on the vertex above the antennae and between the compound eyes, but perhaps it is an artifact. The first flagellomere looks cylindrical and I don't see katepisternal setae, so genus Dixella?

Wirth and Stone (in the Aquatic Insects of California) list aliciae, californica and somnolenta, but I don't have access to Nowell 1951 or Peters and Cook 1966 (but I've now ordered the latter).

Images of this individual: tag all
Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male Dixidae!  Dixella male? - Dixella californica - male

Dixella californica
Hi Ken: Good call. Definitely D. californica.

 
Ah -
cool - thanks for the confirmation!

Moved
Moved from Meniscus Midges.

Added photos of genitalia and scutum. Keys very nicely to this species in Peters and Cook 1966, which I just received in the mail. Scutum clearly striped, fore tarsi without spines, genitalia with forked apical lobe of basistyle and generally matching the illustrations very nicely.

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