CLOSED: What's flying around in our house?

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2manyplants Phoenix, AZ(Zone 9b) Mar 31, 2008

Seems friendly, but I'm curious...

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bugsRus London, United Kingdom Mar 31, 2008

I am by no means an expert, but isn't this a "crane fly"?

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threegardeners North Augusta, ON Apr 05, 2008

Looks like what we call "mosquito hawk"...they eat mosquitoes happily.

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Apr 05, 2008

I always heard them called "mosquito hawks" too, but like lots of insects, the adults don't eat, just breed

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peachespickett Huntington, AR Apr 07, 2008

I believe they lay their eggs in water, and their larvae eat the mosquito larvae, hence the name 'mosquito-eater'....Don't know if that's true, but I recall reading it somewhere....

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cactuspatch Alamogordo, NM(Zone 7b) Apr 15, 2008

toomany, I have those around too. I always thought they didn't harm anything so just catch them and put back outside. They flock to the lights and come inside sometimes. I would like to know the actual name too!

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Apr 15, 2008

Crane fly works - the family is Tipulidae, which is absolutely huge. They're hard to ID because of the sheer number of them, to me anyway. There are some craneflies whose larvae eat plant roots, and are considered a minor pest for that reason, but for the most part they're harmless. wikipedia has a good article about them:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

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