European crane fly

Tipula paludosa

Eats: Nothing as a grown-up Flies and mosquitoesGardens and meadows6 legs

The European crane fly looks like a giant mosquito with very long, thin, wobbly legs. Its body is greyish brown. Don't worry, it does not bite at all. Its babies live in the ground and are called leatherjackets because of their tough skin.

Lives in

North-western Europe, and now also Canada and the northern United States

Length

1.5 to 2.5 cm (0.59 to 0.98 in)

Top speed

about 5.6 km/h (3.5 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It cannot bite or sting, even though it looks like a big mosquito.

What does it eat?

The grown-up flies do not eat. The leatherjacket larvae chew on the roots, stems and leaves of grass and other plants.

Photo of European crane fly — Picture by Holger Gröschl. CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

as long as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 68 secondsmoves 62 times its own body length every second

How big is European crane fly compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

European crane fly about 5.6 km/h (3.5 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

A grown-up crane fly lives only about two weeks.

A female lays about 200 to 300 shiny black eggs, each only 1 millimetre long.

The larvae are a favourite food of crows and other birds.

Its larvae can damage lawns and fields, so farmers and gardeners see it as a pest.

It came to North America by accident, probably hidden in soil.

you asked

Most asked questions about European crane fly

?Do crane flies bite?

No. Crane flies cannot bite or sting and are completely harmless.

?What is a leatherjacket?

It is the larva of the crane fly. It lives in the soil and has a tough, leathery skin.

?How long does a crane fly live?

The grown-up fly lives only about two weeks.

Myth buster

Myth: Crane flies eat mosquitoes.

Truth: No. Grown-up crane flies hardly eat at all and live only about two weeks. They just look like big mosquitoes.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Tipula paludosa
Group: Flies and mosquitoes
Family: Tipulidae
Classification: Insecta > Diptera > Tipulidae
Lives on: Europe, North America

Where the facts come from

Tipula paludosa (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Holger Gröschl. CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.