Subject: Bug ID
Location: Mississippi
January 16, 2017 5:16 pm
I cannot ID this very small bug. 5mm maybe.
I think it might be a midge? It was taken in Mississippi in April.
Signature: Stephen Kirkpatrick
Dear Stephen,
We wanted to be certain this male Dipteran was indeed a Midge, so we contacted Mosquito expert Angel van Gulik who wrote back to us: “That is a rather beautiful midge. ” We will attempt a species identification for you. We believe based on this BugGuide image, that it is in the genus Ablabesmyia. The genus is described on BugGuide as being: “A distinctive genus, with hairy, dark-spotted wings; three or more brown bands on each tibia; acrostichal hairs diverging around a more or less prominent circular spot in front of the scutellum; and cubical fork sessile (M-Cu intersects C at or after fork).”