Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Another moth crane fly

I think this is called a plume moth, but I'm not sure (Update: fellow blogger Tim identifies it as a crane fly. Thanks Tim!). I saw it clinging to this grass plant seed head early one dewy morning out in the vineyard.

I don't know these well enough to identify all the bits and pieces, like the curly bits behind the moth. Is there more than one insect here?

My cold is a little better. I'm sleeping, although I wake up periodically to cough. But the sinuses are beginning to clear, and that's a good thing. Luckily, I suppose, this cold is coinciding with lousy outdoor weather, so I'm not missing out on getting chores done because of it.

6 comments:

  1. Magnificent capture... with all the dew drops,Walt...
    but...
    ... it is a fly, not a moth.

    A Crane Fly in fact...
    also called a Daddy Long-legs...
    Susan will give all the scientific data, I expect.

    He [it is a male] is either dead...
    or, more likely, clinging on for dear life...
    he's got his legs wrapped right around the Holcus grass seed head...
    I've never spotted this before...
    lovely.

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  2. I think it's Tipula paludosa.

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  3. I'll enter yesterday's comments here, since I tried two or three times yesterday but there was no way I could sign in.
    The photo was very serene and peaceful to me. I loved the variant greys you captured; I was tempted to get out my watercolors and attempt a likeness, but I had a list of things to do and I never got to it!
    Surely you saw those two turquoise spots of sky that I could imagine were there to remind the viewer that grey skies would eventually clear ... when was not exactly in the clouds!!!

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  4. Today's photo at first glance resembled a twisted coathanger!
    Please, somebody tell us the correct name for those "curly bits" - they are intriguing.

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    Replies
    1. They are its antennae and tarsi (feet). They have extraordinarily long legs and like Tim says, it's hugging the grass seedhead, either dead or cold.

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  5. tim, merci!

    susan, I looked it up and it looks right. Especially the thorax.

    mary, sorry about that. I think it's beyond my control, unfortunately.

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