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Tag: Nemotocera

  • 79/150: Flying, with its legs! – The Phantom Crane fly

    79/150: Flying, with its legs! – The Phantom Crane fly

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    by

    Meredith Miller
    in

    Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Diptera: Ptychopteridae: Bittacomorpha clavipes (Fabricus, 1781) No, that’s not a giant black mosquito. The Ptychopteridae family, (phantom crane flies), are a small family of Nemotocera (“longhorned flies”) related to mosquitos, true crane flies and blackflies. A common North American species, Bittacomorpha clavipes, is found east of the Rocky Mountains.