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Hi,

in wood of Catalpa bignonioides, mining insect larvae were found. The damage involves stems and branches, from the the heartwood to the cortex.
The larvae are about 20-25 mm long. I have no idea, whta this is, but I believe in the specialists of this forum, that the animals will identified soon.

Germany, Hude (close to Bremen), in Catalpa, November 2013.

Thank you in advance!
Thomas

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pic 2

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pic 3

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Tanyptera atrata

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Thank you!
Thomas

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Hi,

in the meantime a PCR analysis was done on these larvae. The result is: Tipula winthemi (98%).
What do you think about this result?

Thanks in advance
Thomas

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Dear Thomas
although I was not able to find a larval description of T. winthemi, it seems very unlikely. All known species of Tipula (and Prionocera, Nephrotoma) have 6 anal lobes surrounding the posterior stigma. I know of only 1 species in which the ventro-lateral and ventral are divided creating 8 lobes (T. abdominalis). In the related Ctenophorinae (including Tanyptera, Dictenidia) these lobes are more or less reduced. Similar reduced anal lobes can also be found in Limoniidae. So, any Tipula species would be very strange.
While looking in the available literature I found a second Tanyptera species occuring in your country (nigricornis), but cannot be separated from one another on larval morphology.

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Thank you, atylotus.
I am always sceptical with PCR ID, when I do not know on which basis the comparison was done. 98% similarity might not mean anything, if the pattern of Tanyptera atrata is not included in the PCR database.

Thomas