A Year in the Valley

A Year in the Valley

Discovering the flora and fauna in a small square of Portmellon Valley

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  • The Rules
  • Tally
  • Map
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  • Phantom Midge Larva

    Phantom Midge Larva

    In my fishing net on Tuesday, I also found some of these.  They were difficult to manoeuvre into the jam jar for photographing, so I lost a couple.  At first I assumed they were mosquito larvae, but I realised that they didn’t have the hammer-head shape, rather a question-mark silhouette as you can see.  Also, once in the jam jar, this one moved like a caterpillar, looping along the bottom, rather than wiggling zig-zag style through the water as I would expect a mosquito larva to do.  I’m still not 100% sure, but I think this could be a phantom midge larva so-called because it is transparent – you can see its eyes and insides only.  You can get other midge larvae that aren’t transparent and some look more like worms.

    Daisy D

    25 April 2024
    Insects, Pond life
    Midges, Phantom Midge Larva

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  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • Spotted in September
  • Spotted in August
  • Spotted in July
  • Spotted in June
  • Conclusions