Bird, bug, butterfly and a wild variety of photos from Belarus, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland and Spain by Irish wildlife photographer Patrick J. O'Keeffe and invited guests

Showing posts with label craneflies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craneflies. Show all posts

Friday 14 August 2020

MARSH CRANEFLY (Tipula oleracea) female infected with Orange Phoretic Mites at Lullymore West Bog, Lullymore, Co. Kildare, Ireland


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Click external link here for detailed species information
 
The Marsh Cranefly (Tipula oleracea) is of the family Tipulidae which is in the genus Tipula.
 Phoretic mites form a non permanent relationship with their host. This is known as phoresis or phoresy, in which one organism attaches itself to another species solely for the purpose of travel to new habitat and then drop off. In this case the orange phoretic mites have attached themselves to the side of the craneflys thorax. 

Patrick J. O'Keeffe / Raw Birds
 Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoresis