Thread subject: Diptera.info :: a tipulid for haematocephalus
Posted by rvanderweele on 08-11-2006 19:38
#1
I felt so sorry for haematocephalus about his remark that there are too few postrings on TIpulidae. By change there was today a posting about Limoniidae.
Nevertheless....a tipula couple in copula, a close up. The picture was taken this summer in France.
Posted by kitenet on 08-11-2006 20:14
#2
Thank you Ruud for indulging me and providing this intimate portrait! It looks a bit like the British species Tipula (Lunatipula) lunata, but the male genitalia are not the same.
It appears that the male abdomen is twisted through 180 degrees compared to the female, is that something that many craneflies do? If so I'd not realised it before.
You are most kind :D!
Martin
Posted by rvanderweele on 08-11-2006 20:30
#3
here the same couple, from another position
Posted by Chen Young on 10-11-2006 16:54
#4
to show the rotation of male during mating. Actually some of the small-sized crane flies such as genus Ormosia, and others the males have evolved to the point that the entire ninth sgement of the abdomen has undergone a rotation of approximately 180 degree so the tergal plate lies on the sternal surface of the body. Assumed they are just too small to sustain the rotation as the large sized tipulids can do.