large crane fly

(Tipula submaculata)

Conservation Status
large crane fly (Tipula submaculata)
Photo by Greg Watson
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

not listed

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Tipula submaculata is a medium-sized “large” crane fly. It occurs from Nova Scotia to South Carolina west to Wisconsin and Arkansas.

Adults are slender, soft-bodied, yellowish- or grayish-brown, and no more than 1 in length.

There are two large compound eyes on the sides of the head and no simple eyes (ocelli). The mouth parts are at the end of a short but conspicuous, snout-like projection (rostrum) on the front of the head. 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 is dark at the base and pale at the tip, giving the antennae a ringed appearance.

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, slender, yellowish-brown, and has nine evident segments. On the female two adjacent segments near the end of the abdomen are distinctly darker. The last 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 brown with a few whitish cells around the darkened stigma. There are two anal veins, both of them long and reaching the wing margin. The first anal vein (A1) is very long and straight, curving abruptly to the inner margin just at the end.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Total length: no more than 1

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Tipula mallochi and Tipula submaculata are extremely similar in appearance. Females cannot be told apart. Males can be differentiated only by examining their genitalia under a microscope. Neither species has been recorded in Minnesota. The known range of Tipula mallochi is from Maryland to Florida west to Illinois and Missouri. The range of Tipula submaculata is from Nova Scotia to South Carolina west to Wisconsin and Arkansas.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

 

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

 

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

 

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

 

 
     
 

Larva Food

 
 

 

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82.

 
  6/16/2021      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Order

Diptera (flies)  
 

Suborder

Nematocera (long-horned flies)  
 

Infraorder

Tipulomorpha (crane flies)  
 

Superfamily

Tipuloidea (typical crane flies)  
 

Family

Tipulidae (large crane flies)  
 

Subfamily

Tipulinae  
 

Genus

Tipula  
 

Subgenus

Lunatipula  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Tipula cuspidata

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

This species has no common name. The common name of the family Tipulidae is large crane flies, and it is applied here for convenience.

 
       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Mesonotum

The principal exoskeletal plate on the upper (dorsal) part of the middle segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Ocellus

Simple eye; an eye with a single lens. Plural: ocelli.

 

Ovipositor

A long needle-like tube on the abdomens of some female insects, used to inject eggs into soil or plant stems.

 

Palp

Short for pedipalp. A segmented, finger-like process of an arthropod; one is attached to each maxilla and two are attached to the labium. They function as sense organs in spiders and insects, and as weapons in scorpions. Plural: palpi or palps.

 

Rostrum

The stiff, beak-like projection of the carapace or prolongation of the head of an insect, crustacean, or cetacean.

 

Stigma

In plants, the portion of the female part of the flower that is receptive to pollen. In Lepidoptera, an area of specialized scent scales on the forewing of some skippers, hairstreaks, and moths. In other insects, a thickened, dark, or opaque cell on the leading edge of the wing.

 

Tibia

The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot). The fifth segment of a spider leg or palp.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Greg Watson

 
  I went out to Vetsch Park in La Crescent for a hike and took this picture of mating crane flies. Tipula submaculata was the closest I could come to in identifying them.   large crane fly (Tipula submaculata)  
           
 
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  Greg Watson
5/24/2021

Location: Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN

I went out to Vetsch Park in La Crescent for a hike and took this picture of mating crane flies. Tipula submaculata was the closest I could come to in identifying them.

large crane fly (Tipula submaculata)

 
           
 
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Created: 6/16/2021

Last Updated:

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