Posted by Juergen Peters on 03-10-2009 21:45
#1
Hi!
These Ptychopteridae were larger on an average (13-15 mm) than the
Ptychoptera cf. contaminata in my previous post. Conspicous were the marbled markings on the pale abdomens espially of the females. All pics from our garden (with small pond) in northwest Germany from June-24 to August-16, 2009. Could they be
Ptychoptera minuta?
Posted by Jan Willem on 05-10-2009 08:30
#6
If I remember correctly,
P. minuta is supposed to have a completely black abdomen. I've never seen a ptychopterid like this, so I'm very curious what this turns out to be! If the species is indentified, please place the pictures in the gallery.
Posted by Juergen Peters on 06-10-2009 20:26
#8
Hello, Jan Willem and Paul!
Paul Beuk wrote:
Looks like it might be a teneral...
I have found pics of a mating couple of
P. minuta in "Fliegen und Mücken" by Joachim & Miroko Haupt. There the smaller male is black, the female has a ivory couloured abdomen with a narrow darker median stripe. It resembles the one on my picture #3 a bit, but not completely. There are no "marble" markings.
I don't believe, that the colouration is teneral, because
all individuals (especially the females) at all times looked like this. They were very numerous in our garden this year, but occuring at different periods than the "normal"
P. cf. contaminata. That species appears very early, from mid April and stays until end June/beginning of July. It is also smaller on average than the pale ones.
Those appear at end of June, reach a maximum in July and stay until end of August. Now in the last two or three weeks, at the end of September, there were the smaller, darker
P. cf. contaminata again.