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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Mosquitoes and Midges (Culicomorpha) » Black Flies (Simuliidae)
Photo#256774
Black Fly larva
Copyright © 2009 tom murray

Black Fly larva
Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
March 5, 2009
Size: ~2.5mm
Found in the rocky, fast flowing, cold Willard Brook.

Images of this individual: tag all
Black Fly larva Black Fly larva Black Fly larva
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Contributed by tom murray on 5 March, 2009 - 11:27pm

Key features
The key to genera asks first if the larva has labral fans -- the structure at bottom of picture.

The next step applicable to New England black flies asks about (1) color of segments of antennae, (2) appearance of the bottom of the head, (3) the detailed shape of the "teeth" at the front of the bottom of the head (similar in pattern and size to midge larval teeth; an extension tube might be needed if they are visible at all in photographs).
… John F. Carr, 6 March, 2009 - 7:39pm login or register to post comments

 
One out of four
If this was baseball, I wouldn't be doing too bad. But at 5x it doesn't look like I got all the detail needed to go too far.
… tom murray, 6 March, 2009 - 11:56pm login or register to post comments

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