| A most
unusual group of insects are the Snake Flies, of which
there are just four UK species and about 20 living in
Europe. They are best looked for on the trunks of Oak and
Pine trees. All four of the UK species belong to the Raphidiidae
family and are terrestial insects. The larvae live on or
under loose bark and feed on other insects. Females can
be distinguished from males by the presence of a long
ovipositor. The adults emerge from early May onwards and
are thought to spend most of their time in the tops of
trees, accounting for the general scarcity of sightings.
Snake Flies seem poorly recorded insects, but they are
certainly some of the strangest and most difficult to
find. The one
featured here is Xanthostigma xanthostigma, but
finding any reliably identified photographs on the
internet has proved very difficult and there is certainly
no identification key to Snake Flies available via the
same medium. The accompanying photographs show a female
found at Sherwood Forest CP June 2010
|
