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Is this a termite wing or flying ant wing

Biology Asked on August 22, 2021

I saw this on the bottom corner of my pantry in the Washington DC area. I can’t tell whether is termite wing or something else. The wing is 3/4" long.
insect wing on off-white background

One Answer

This appears to be the wing of a crane fly (Tipulidae). Using this figure you can begin narrowing down the possibilities for wing venation. Searching diptera wing venation, I think, brings up this excellent diagram (see bottom left for Tipulidae) which quite closely matches your photo if rotated in a graphics program (GIMP):

Click to zoom

Wing photo from OP paired with wing outline image copied and rotated from Batsdiet.com

You could likely drill this down further by searching Tipulidae venation or the like on Google Scholar, which pulls up many papers with detailed information on various regions and taxa of crane flies.

Answered by Mike Serfas on August 22, 2021

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