Two soldierfly larvae

Visit Jonathan Neal's blog to see a superb close-up by Fabrice Parais of the delicate, feathery respiratory hairs at the tip of a soldier-fly larva. The photo won an honorable mention at the 2014 Nikon Small World photographic competition. (Thanks to Ruud van der Weele for sharing this link via Facebook.)

And the picture below is from Oulton Marshes in Suffolk, taken by Adrian Chalkley. It shows the larva of the Ornate Brigadier, Odontomyia ornata. Both adult and larval Ornate Brigadier are rather similar to species in genus Stratiomys, but as Adrian's photos clearly show, the larva has characteristic hooks on the underside of segments 9 and 10 (these hooks are absent in Stratiomys). Larvae of Ornate Brigadier can be easier to find than the adults, and are most often found in grazing marsh ditches with aquatic, floating vegetation. Thanks to Adrian for sharing via Twitter, and for giving us permission to add the photo to the recording scheme website. Adult Ornate Brigadiers can be seen on Steve Falk's Flick pages.

Larva of Odontomyia ornata, images by Adrian Chalkley