On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 15:57:04 +0100, Chris Bacon wrote:

I found an insect the other day that I don't recognise. It was
like a sort of mosquito, but bigger and nastier looking. Length
16mm. The head, thorax, and abdomen were well defined segments.
The head was comparatively small, 2mm long, with two small
feelers right at the front, coming from a point and diverging,
like an upside-down Fu Manchu moustache. The eyes were large on
each side of the head, and pink-looking. There was a big nasty-
looking black proboscis (length 4mm), which could move from a
position under the head to one sticking out towards the front.
The thorax had a top which had a "combed" or reeded appearance
front-back, browny-black, 3mm long. The straight abdomen was
possibly 2mm wide, less in vertical cross-section. There was a
small pointy bit at the rear end, less than 1mm long. There were
dark grey/lighter grey bands from side to side of the abdomen.
The wings were shiny, colourless and transparent, with rounded
ends like oar blades.

Was this a nasty biter, or just a nasty looker? Any pointers
to possible pictures?

Could it have been a sort of scorpion fly ?
There are a number of similar animals which don't have the "sting" at the
end of the abdomen.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/e...rpion_fly.html

Alternatively a small wasp, something like this?
http://www.invasive.org/browse/detai...imgnum=0805062





A bite on my forearmhas just healed - there was first a small
red hole, like a very enlarged pore, which developed a raised
doghnut-with-a-hole appearance. The skin around this blistered
and the area became inflamed. A hardened lump 1" across could
be felt under my skin. This took nearly a fortnight to heal.
It was very itchy! What abstrad could have been responsible?

That's what happens to me when I get bitten by a horsefly.



--
Tim C.