General & Distribution
Craspedochaeta annulipes, originally described as a member of the genus Heteromeringia, is a widespread neotropical species that is only sporadically found in the eastern and southeastern United States. Dark and light colour forms are known, but only the light phase (photographed here) has been found in North America.

Similar species
Craspedochaeta concinna is also predominantly brown in thoracic colouration, but the wing is almost entirely dark, not with a clear medial band as in C. annulipes.
           Craspedochaeta weemsi
(Florida), conversely, is a very pale species with an almost entirely yellow thorax. Other diagnostic characters include an additional fronto-orbital bristle on the anterior margin of the frons (ie. there are 5, not 4 pairs of bristles), the prescutellar acrostichal bristle is well-developed, and the surstyli and phallus are very small while the cerci are large, fused and plate-like.

Biology & Collection
Specimens have been collected using both Malaise and yellow pan traps, and like other species of Clusiidae, are frequently caught using dung baits. This species occurs in a variety of altitudes and habitats, however, most material has been found at low to mid elevations in wet or humid areas.