Englishman in Bandung

By Vodkaman

What is it?

I haven't a clue!
 
The long antennae with no arista (hair sticking out), also absence of the 'drum stick' under the wing, indicate that it is definitely not a fly.
 
A wasp is a possibility, but the lack of petiole (thin bit between the abdomen and thorax) and the strange claspers at the back, eliminate that idea.
 
Beetles have a hard casing formed from the first pair of wings, which this insect does not, so pretty sure it is not a beetle.
 
This only leaves some kind of bug as a possibility, as it clearly doesn’t fit the profile of the other major insect groups such as mantids, hoppers etc.
 
It is possibly juvenile, as there appears to be the start of cover plates at the root of the wings. Such plates appear during the final couple of instars (instar = shedding of exoskeleton). This idea fits in with bugs.
 
Hemiptera are the order of true bugs, but this does not fit, as true bugs have sucking mouthparts, also hemiptera generally have five segments to the antennae, whereas this little beasty has ten plus the base segment.
 
The clasper features at the rear end are very distinctive and remind me of earwigs, but I have checked them out and too different.
 
These insects can fly, although not strong fliers, flight is obviously a major part of this bugs life.
 
Time is dragging on and I have other things to do, so I have to abandon this project. Jump in any time you want.

Update - Identification - Coleoptera, Cantharidae,  Ichthyurus - soldier beetle. Help from Project Noah web site. I told you yesterday that they were good :)
 
Dave

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