Sunday 13 May 2012

Crane Fly halteres


This Crane Fly or Daddy Long Legs (possibly Tipula scripta) got into the house and I gave a try to getting its portrait on a white background. It is pleasantly surprising how many insects that I expect to fly away immediately do actually stay still through my white bowl session. The little knobbed structures sticking out at the sides of the body are the halteres, typical of all flies but more prominent in these large flies. They evolved from the hindwings and when in flight move in opposite directions as the wings and are involved in balancing and steering and contribute to the exquisite flying abilities in the group, although crane flies themselves are weak, wobbly fliers



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great shots of these seldom seen details.

Africa Gomez said...

Thank you Adrian, after some poor efforts a while back, I had been looking for an opportunity to get some haltere shots for quite some time

Cynthia Schelzig said...

I love your shots of all these creatures! I have a foto of a beetle that I took this past week and I cannot find out what it is...if I sent it to you would you tell me what it is?? email is cynnieboo at aol dot com.....thanks if you can help.