Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Diptera:

The order Diptera contains the True Flies.  A true fly has one single pair of wings on the thorax; two pairs of wings would put the fly into different insect families.  This order contains over 240,000 species including the mosquito, gnats, and midges.  As the ice on top of your pond melts, you may notice the tiny macroinvertebrate larvae of the true flies in the water.  This should not alarm you.  These larvae, including mosquito larvae, are a very important part of the food chain in the pond’s ecosystem.  Fish fry, tadpoles, and other organisms will all consume these as a major part of their diet. 

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