Crane Fly

Family Tipulidae — the crane flies — contains over 16,000 described species, making it the largest single family of true flies (order Diptera) on Earth. Tipula paludosa is the European crane fly, a major turf and pasture pest now established across the Pacific Northwest of North America. Adults are unmistakable: a slender mosquito-like body with extremely long thin legs that often break off easily (the species name 'crane' refers to the long-legged bird), a single pair of wings, and a pair of small balancer organs (halteres) where the second wing pair would be in non-Diptera. Adults of many crane fly species have no functional mouthparts and live just 10-15 days on stored larval reserves; mating and egg-laying are the only adult tasks. The species is gentle, harmless, does not bite (a persistent myth that 'mosquito hawks' eat mosquitoes is false — crane flies don't eat anything as adults), and breaks legs at the slightest touch. The larvae, called 'leatherjackets,' are tough-skinned cylindrical grubs that live in soil and feed on grass roots and other plant material. T. paludosa leatherjackets are major pests of golf courses, lawns, and pasture across the British Isles, the Pacific Northwest US, and southern coastal Canada — population outbreaks can defoliate large areas of turf in autumn.