Crane Fly - Tipula (Platytipula) paterifera
Class Insecta / Subclass Pterygota / Infraclass Neoptera / Order Diptera
Suborder Nematocera  / Infraorder Tipulomorpha / Family Tipulidae -- crane flies, tipules
Tipulidae is the largest family of Diptera with about 1,500 species in North America and 12,000 species worldwide.
 


 
This species is a late autumnal species (16-19 mm) found especially in lawn, grassy areas, and humid areas along ponds, marshes, and streams. Head and thorax are gray, abdomen chiefly brownish-yellow, and the abdominal tergite with a median brown stripe. Wings tinged with brown and with costal margin darken. Adults are active in later afternoon and they come rather freely to light at night. This largely midwest species (Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee) has spread all the way to the east coast (New Jersey, Maryland) in the last two decades. This species has not previously been recorded from Pennsylvania; it represents a state record and is now widespread in Pennsylvania.*
*The Crane Flies of Pennsylvania
Thanks to Dr. Chen Young of Carnegie Museum of Natural History for identification of these specimens.

Swarms of mating crane fly males dance above vegetation waiting to seize females. Around the pond where I took these pictures, there are thousands of these flies - they look like huge mosquitoes on steroids, but they cannot sting or bite. They are very clumsy fliers, their legs being twice as long as their bodies. One would think them willing photographic subjects, but they are very alert and do not sit still for very long unless caught "in the act."
Habitat: Humid areas near ponds, streams, marshes. Range: Worldwide. Food: Adults do not feed.
Larvae feed on decaying vegetation, fungi and roots.
Life Cycle: Slender eggs are laid on moist soil or mud near open water. Fully grown larvae pupate overwinter in the soil, emerge in spring.

 
 


The small, bulbous structures are called halteres. They are used for balance and vibration damping during flight. All true flies have these organs; they evolved from the (absent in flies) second set of wings present in many other insects.