Species: Cranefly - unnamed 1 (Tipula oleracea)
Family: Craneflies (TIPULIDAE)
Category: Insects (Other)
Location: Widespread
A. Insects (Other)
More extensive information on insects can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Craneflies (TIPULIDAE)
Craneflies - also known as 'daddy longlegs' - are found worldwide. There are 15,000 members of this family. In their larval stage, they are called 'leatherjackets'. Adults live for no more than 10 to 15 days. Emerging from her pupa, the female immediately lays eggs (usually black in colour) in wet soil or algae.
Crane flies in their larval form can present pest-like behaviour. Living in the top layers of soil, they can feed on roots and do damage to crops. In one notorious incident in 1935, Lord's Cricket Ground in London was damaged by leatherjackets, with ground staff finding them in their thousands. The resulting bald patches added unwanted spin to many of the deliveries that season.
C. Cranefly - unnamed 1 (Tipula oleracea)
Tipula oleracea is one of our common craneflies - there are 350 different ones found in Britain! This can be identified from other craneflies by the darker stripe running vertically down the back of its abdomen, by it having 13 segments to its antennae, and by the length of its wings, in this case shorter than its abdomen. This one is likely to be a female, photographed in the Cemetery in October.
Images
Tipula oleracea
Tipula oleracea can be identified from other craneflies by the dark stripes running vertically down the back of its abdomen, by it having 13 segments to its antennae, and by the length of its wings, in this case shorter than its abdomen.
Tipula oleracea
This photograph of the cranefly Tipula oleracea shows one of its halteres. There are two, one on either side of the body, just behind each wing. Halteres are club-shaped organs that provide information about body rotation during flight. All true flies (diptera, which includes crane flies, house flies, hover flies and fruit flies) have these halteres. They evolved from the back wings of these types of insects. When these flying insects detect a sharp gust of wind, they can course-correct using information detected by these oscillating organs.
