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Hi,
In the last days I have often been at a small artificial pond that the Nature Conservancy had built on a sunny meadow. I was impressed by the amount of Stratiomyidae larvae swimming in the water and also crawling around on land. The largest ones measured at least 4 cm.
The location is southwestern Germany, west of Stuttgart.

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Most of the larvae belonged to the genus Stratiomys, and according to the description https://diptera.i...d_id=33074 by atylotus I'd vote for S. longicornis.

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Some larvae, however, looked different and could be Odontomyia ornata, right?

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And one last question: in another artificial pond, numerous egg clusters were attached to a stone lying in the water. Could these also be from Stratiomyidae? I saw similar pictures on the internet.
Thank you very much in advance for comments on the two species as well as the eggs,
Sundew

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Dear Sundew
I also vote for Str. longicornis, but I think the other one is Oplodontha viridula. What is the approximate size of that one? about 1.5cm (then viridula) or closer to 3 cm (then O. ornata)?
The egg clusters looks like the one I have seen from Ceratopogonidae and the hebitat may suggest Dasyhelea, but not sure though.
All the best from Amsterdam
Ton aka Atylotus

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Sorry for the late reply, dear Ton, I am on vacation.
As the first picture shows, the larvae of Stratiomys and of Odontomyia are of the same size and measure 3 cm at least. So O. ornata should be the right choice.
As to the eggs, those from Stratiomys shown in https://www.makro...ongicornis seem to be bigger indeed. So we won't find out who laid them. No problem!
Many thanks, Claudia aka Sundew