365 Urban Species. #142: Crane Fly

[urbpan]

Urban species #142: Crane fly Nephrotoma ferruginea

Almost everybody has had the harrowing experience of encountering what appears to be the world's largest mosquito bumbling around the light fixture, or perched ominously on the wall. The insect is ignored, caught and released outdoors, or (most likely) flattened with a blunt instrument. The insect in question is the harmless, which is to say non-biting, crane fly. There are hundreds of species of them, and when they are fully grown, most do not feed on anything at all, never mind on human blood. Their larvae live in the soil feeding on the roots of grass and other plants, and are called "leatherjackets" by those who attempt to exterminate them. Of course, if insecticide is used to control them, predacious insects such as ground beetles are killed as well, possibly exacerbating the problem. Adult crane flies live a very short time, and are important prey for bats, swallows, and chimney swifts.

Comments

[cavalaxis]

Huh. Ya learn something new every day. I've always heard them called Mosquito Hawks out here in California. I had a cat who would climb anything to catch them. It was not an uncommon site to see her grinning broadly with these tiny legs flailing between her lips.

[klandaghicat.livejournal.com]

Yup, Skeeter-gitters, or Mosquito Hawks. Way cool info! I'll pass it on to the kid, who absolutely wigs over them! We like bats, and I rarely kill these guys anyway.

[lynsage.livejournal.com]

wow. when i was a little kid somebody told me that those things were male mosquitoes and not to kill them because they don't bite like the females.

and i believed it until just now.

[okaree.livejournal.com]

Not all cranefly grubs live in the soil - Tipulidae (and maybe some other families?) are big, maggoty aquatic suckers. A tasty treat for trout, no doubt!

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Yay, you identified it!

[burning-brain.livejournal.com]

So it's not true that crane flies prey on mosquitoes?

[artnoose.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I've been a champion of the crane fly for over a decade--- meaning that I correct EVERYONE when they call them "mosquito hawks" or "mosquito eaters" or suggest that they are either big mosquitos or predators of the tiny little things.

Glad that the truth is being promoted.

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

we call those skeeter eaters and practice the catch and release method of friendly pest control. my daughter is scared of them, but prefers them to the actual skeeters.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

when i curiously plugged the term "mosquito hawk" into google, i got a wiki "dis page" that said that dragonflies, crane flies, and a particular kind of fishing fly are all commonly called mosquito hawks. who knew!

by the way, i often see the crane fly in your photo up here in camberville. have you done a 365 already on robber flies, that i missed?

Mosquito eaters

[(Anonymous)]

So they don't eat mosquitos huh? That makes me feel better about eating them I guess. mmmm. crunchy.

you people are full of info - thanks.

[godorion.livejournal.com]

I grew up here in Texas (El Campo... Wharton County) and we always called them mosquito hawks. And we weren't allowed to kill them. Had to trap and take outside.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

Many many months after the post... but I got here via your "Top 8 Urban Animals" reprise. When I was in grade school, one of these flies was on my desk while I was doing homework, and I could've sworn it fell apart while I was watching -- that is, its legs fell off! I was horrified. Thinking back, I can't be sure whether it was alive when I noticed it.

killing em

[(Anonymous)]

i used to hate these things, but now i love em. i found that theyre really fun to kill, especially when theyre all fuckin emergin out of the ground, where i give them a good stampin on