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I believe this is Thelaira solivaga, seems to have more than 2 long ad bristles on mid tarsus, black stripe on abdomen not too wide - can anyone confirm please?

Photographed today 20/5/2009, Devon, England; hedge/decid. wood/pasture.

Thanks

Tim

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With so few long bristles it should be T. nigripes ... the width of the black longitudinal median line is a bit of a red herring because it is so variable. :)

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Does nigripes occur in the UK
I thought it didn't


Theo

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Thanks Chris, I'm getting overconfident. This photo - not sure if it's the same individual, but I'm sure it's the same sp. (they were common) - shows the mid tibia better.

T.nigripes does occur in Britain.

Tim

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T. nigripes has gone through a fair bit of synonymy, with names like nigrina but I'd say it is the commoner of the 3 UK species here in the UK ... solivaga being fairly rare and leucozona known from 6 specimens, I seem to recall :)

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Thanks Tim - lovely photos, as usual :)

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I'm sorry,
but both pictures show a distinct ve, so it must be solivaga
The right tibia 2 confirms this

Theo

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Hmm, looks a bit of a difficult one ... but Theo has seen a lot more than me so it must be solivaga :)

Possibly Belshaw's key a bit confusing with the leg bristles ... Tschorsnig just mentions "2 ad" for nigripes but in Belshaw he confuses it by saying "long bristles", implying that short ones are discounted. In this photo I can see 2 long bristles and 2 shorter ones ... but perhaps they are long enough. The ve is also very small ... I'll recheck some of my specimens when I get some time. :)

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Sounds like I should retitle the thread again, or should I hold off awaiting further developments? Thanks for your help with this one, guys.

Tim

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In nigripes a 3 smaller one on top might be present,

but this really is solivaga



Theo