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I caught one of these in my house the other day, thinking it was a Crane fly but it stung me. It sdidnt burn like a wasp sting , I just wasnt expecting it. Today we found another and this time I was prepared and I got two photos.

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Hmmm, Netelia testacea?

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What a strange species!!

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Professor Donald Quicke says that it is Ophion obscuratus

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Hmm, not listed in my collins guide.
Not Netelia ?

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Given the credentials of the person mentioned, I would go with what he said.

http://www3.imper...e/d.quicke

Janet

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@Larry - you have to be very wary of the Collin's Guides. They are nice books but there are 7000+ species of Hymenoptera in the UK and the Collins books probably cover no more than 1% of them. That's aside from the fact that a vast majority of the species belong to complex morphological groupings ... basically they all look the same as a bunch of other species.

Jim Brock's keys list 14 species of the genus Ophion in the UK ... so you see the problem. In my experience they are not an easy group to identify either - requiring close examination of a lot of features to get an ID.

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Ophion it is then

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Without problem for me : Ophion obscuratus!

But not more than 4 sp.identifiable in photograph, yes CHRIS!

Camille