common crane fly

not listed

not listed

not listed

Tipula borealis is a medium-sized “large” crane fly. It occurs in the eastern North America from Quebec to Ontario south to South Carolina and Kansas. It is uncommon in Minnesota. Based on the number of reported sightings, it is either rare or more likely underreported. Adults are found in the summer in wet woodlands. Larvae are found in saturated forests in the very outer layers of fallen, well-rotted tree trunks, and often under moss.

Adults are slender, soft-bodied, yellowish- or grayish-brown, ½″ to ⅝″ (13 to 17 mm) in length, and have a 9⁄16″ to ⅝″ (14 to 15 mm) long wing length.

There are two large compound eyes on the sides of the head and no simple eyes (ocelli). The compound eyes are bare, not covered with hairs. The mouth parts are at the end of a short but conspicuous, snout-like projection (rostrum) on the front of the head. At the tip of the rostrum, on the upper side, there is a short pointed extension (nasus). The lower jaws (maxillae) have long sensory structures (palps) attached. Each palp has four segments. The fourth segment is antennae-like and very long, longer than first three segments combined. The antennae are short and have 13 segments. The segments are simple, not branched. Each segment has an enlarged base and a whorl of medium-length hairs at the base.

The upper thoracic plate (mesonotum) is brownish-gray with dull, darker gray, longitudinal stripes. It has a distinct, V-shaped groove (suture) on top near the wing bases.

The abdomen is long and slender, and has nine evident segments. Each segment is yellowish-brown with a dark, upper (middorsal), longitudinal stripe. The last abdominal segment on the female has a long, acutely pointed, egg-laying apparatus (ovipositor). On the male, the last segment is enlarged into a club-shaped structure (hypopygium) that supports the copulatory apparatus.

The wings are tinted grayish-brown with a few brown spots and areas of brown clouding. There is a narrow brown stripe on the leading edge (costal margin), with a clear patch just beyond the midpoint followed by a darker, brownish-gray patch. The radius (R) vein has three branches. The radial sector (Rs) vein is long. The media vein (M) is dark, bold, and forked near the margin. The basal section of the first branch of the cubitus vein (Cu_1a) is long and joins with the third media vein (M₃), which makes the discal cell appear to have five sides. There are two anal veins, both of them long and reaching the wing margin. On the female, the wings do not reach the tip of the abdomen. The outer cells may have very short hairs (microtrichia), seen only with magnification, but have no long hairs (macrotrichia). The cell at the end of the first branch of Cu_1a, which is also designated as Cu_1a, is only slightly wider at the base than at the margin.

The legs are long and slender. The fourth leg segment (tibia) of each leg has two spurs at the tip.

Total length: ½″ to ⅝″ (13 to 17 mm)

Wet woodlands

Summer

The wings are held spread at almost right angles when at rest.

Swarms of males fly above a bush or treetop in a mating “dance”. When a male seizes a female, the pair lands on foliage to mate.

Adults do not feed

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Location: Albany, NY

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota