Male midge, Heesch, Netherlands

Found last Friday night on the moth light trap. My theory is that its a male mosquito, based on the brushed antennae. Not sure though as I did find a male mosquito that is much larger. This one I'd guess at about 3-5mm only.

comments (8)

Christine Young

Lion

It is indeed a male. But, it's not a mosquito. It's a male midge. You can tell because it does not have a proboscis, it's resting low to the surface, the wings are not fringed and don't have scales, the legs have hairs not scales, and the wings are shorter than the abdomen...All of these things distinguish it from a mosquito. Posted 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks so much, that's an excellent explanation! Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    Sure thing :)
    
    I did a quick google search, and although I couldn't figure out the ID for this midge, there were a ton of pictures of midge fishing lures that had green "bodies" and black "heads", so maybe this is a common species since it's apparently a popular lure? Posted 7 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Can you share a few examples, please? Posted 7 years ago
    2. 1. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        If you scroll down after clicking on this link, you'll see the green midge lure on the left. When I searched google images for "green midge with black thorax", a bunch of images just like the lure in this link popped up. It must be popular, I suppose.
        
        http://www.mtfa-springfield.org/resources/fly-tying-recipes-patterns/rusty-tubing-midge/ Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Thanks! May be chironomus sp, but I wouldn't dare go beyond that.
        http://www.gardensafari.net/pics/vliegen/muggen/chironomus_sp_hs0_2600.jpg
        
        By the way, adding some "lost in translation": the dutch language doesn't have separate words for midges and mosquitos, they are all part of a larger group named "muggen", which we typically translate back to english as "mosquitos". Posted 7 years ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        Interesting. So, you can call both “muggen”, but also use the English word “mosquito”, but not the word “midge”? So, if someone said “muggen”, you wouldn’t know if it was in reference to a biting fly or a non-biting fly. Posted 7 years ago
        
        Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Correct. We call both types "muggen". Technically, there is a term "steekmuggen" to specificially mean mosquitos but nobody uses this. So when translating back from muggen to english, a typical dutch person will use "mosquito", because "midge" is not a common word to know in english for non-native speakers. Posted 7 years ago

No species identified

The species on this photo is not identified yet. When signed in, you can identify species on photos that you uploaded. If you have earned the social image editing capability, you can also identify species on photos uploaded by others.

By Ferdy Christant

Uploaded Jul 24, 2018. Captured Jul 21, 2018 01:59.

Explore Netherlands 8,314 2,306 0

NIKON D850
f/16.0
1/60s
ISO64
105mm