Giant Cranefly

Dr Abe V Rotor

Crane Fly (Tipula sp), Family Tipulidae, Order Diptera

This is a rare specimen I caught at home. It is a very curious one, although it a relative of the mosquito. It has the size several times bigger than the ordinary cranefly we often called daddy-long-legs.

The cranefly undergoes four stages - egg, larva called maggot, pupa and adult. The maggot feeds on crops and pasture grass but it inflicts little damage. The adults emerge and swarm in the evening. They have queer body structure and movement. Craneflies are clumsy fliers, mainly because they have only one pair of wings. That is why they are classified Diptera - two wings. The pair of hindwings are reduced into halteres or balancers which look like stubs or knobs.

When at rest, craneflies shake continuously in all directions that they become virtually invisible to their enemies. This unique mechanism has not been fully studied.

If you can detect a cranefly, you must have a third eye.~