Sciaridae (dark-winged fungus gnat) – hairy legs and a beautiful pattern of wing veins

Applause IconJan 07, 2018 • 3:45 AM UTC
Location IconUnknown Location
Applause Icon140x Magnification
Applause IconMicroorganisms
User Profile
Biotop Villach_Austria

Biotop is an open collective of scientists engaging in the curiosity-driven, cross-disciplinary and collaborative translation of ideas. For more information, see http://biotop.co/en/

4posts
1comments
1locations
SINGLE IMAGE
View in Media Gallery
This video shows a member of the Sciaridae family under the foldscope.
A post shared by biotop (@biotop_science)
The insect was caught in the flower pot of a ficus benjamini plant using a yellow fly trap.
SINGLE IMAGE
View in Media Gallery
Its body length is approximately 1-2 mm – too big to image in a single view on the foldscope. Here are multiple images strung together to give a complete view:
SINGLE IMAGE
View in Media Gallery
Once caught, the specimen are quite difficult to handle as they are really delicate. It looks like in this example the neck was severed during mounting onto the slide, and a few leg parts were lost too. Still, this was the best specimen we got (after quite a few tries).

Sign in to commentNobody has commented yet... Share your thoughts with the author and start the discussion!

More Posts from Biotop Villach_Austria