Short-palped Crane Fly
S3, Female, dorsal
Ellura
Short-palped Crane Fly
S2, Male, profile
 
                      
Short-palped Crane Fly (Symplecta pilipes)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Small Crane Fly (Tipulomorpha: Limoniidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Short-palped Crane Fly (Symplecta pilipes)
This Photo:     🔍S6, Male, dorsal🔎

Thank you Zac Billingham for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
The female was ~9mm long. We haven't measured a male yet.
Note the female has, what looks like, an ovi-positor. The males have claps to hold the female when mating. These can often be seen through the wings.
The big visual difference between Crane flies & Scorpion flies is that Scorpion flies (Order Mecoptera) have 4 wings and are not true flies.
Crane flies are true flies which all have 2 wings and 2 clubs (halteres). Due to their slender bodies the Crane fly halteres are much easier to see than with many other fly species.

Copyright © 2021-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 26-May-2021
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.