Short-palped Crane Fly
S3, Female, ventral
Short-palped Crane Fly
S14, Female, dorsal
| Short-palped Crane Fly S3, Female, ventral | | Short-palped Crane Fly S14, Female, dorsal | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Small Crane Fly (Tipulomorpha: Limoniidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Short-palped Crane Fly (Symplecta pilipes) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S4, Male, ventral🔎 | ||||
Thank you Zac Billingham for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere The female was ~9mm long. We haven't measured a male yet. Note the female has, what looks like, an ovi-positor. The males have claps to hold the female when mating. These can often be seen through the wings. The big visual difference between Crane flies & Scorpion flies is that Scorpion flies (Order Mecoptera) have 4 wings and are not true flies. Crane flies are true flies which all have 2 wings and 2 clubs (halteres). Due to their slender bodies the Crane fly halteres are much easier to see than with many other fly species. | |||||
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