INSECTS

DIPTERA / CRANEFLIES

Epiphragma ocellare lives in woodland where it flies in May and June. It is a distinctive species with circle patterns on the wings, banded thighs and a brown striped abdomen. Its larvae live in dead wood.

Tipula lateralis is usually found flying from March to October near water. The larvae are semi-aquatic and feed on decaying plants at the bottom of lakes, ponds and streams. Adults (20mm length) and have a light line running down the back of the abdomen, untypical of most other British species that normally have a dark line. A second characteristic is a black line starting just behind the eyes and running over the thorax. There are also distinctive dark veins on the wings. This is the only common species with all these combined features.

Large Cranefly Tipula maxima has patterned wings and long legs. It prefers damp and wooded locations. Females lay eggs in mossy edges of ditches, streams and ponds. The larvae live in water just below the water surface and their development takes place in submerged leaf litter. This species is usually seen from April until August.

Tipula lunata is one of several similarly-coloured Craneflies so making an identification can be difficult. This is a common species that inhabits well-vegetated places where they visit herbaceous plants and shrubs in the family Umbelliferae.

September Craneflies Tipula paludosa  have larvae (leatherjackets) that live in the upper layers of soil where they can sometimes be a destructive pest when they feed on the bases of plant stems and roots. Adults emerge from June until September with peak numbers appearing around the beginning of September. Mating takes place shortly after emergence. The females lay eggs amongst grass and other vegetation. The eggs take about two weeks to hatch. During autumn starlings are sometimes seen on fields in large numbers when they are hunting for leatherjackets to eat.

Black-striped Cranefly Tipula vernalis flies from April to June in damp woodland and marshy locations. It is a large Cranefly with a distinctive wing pattern, a dark stripe along the back and green eyes. Females are plump when gravid and have a pointed ovipositor for placing eggs into soil.  Males are slimmer with squared off or club-shaped abdomens. Adults feed on nectar and their larvae consume plant roots.

Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata  has a yellow body with a wide dark stripe on the dorsal surface of the abdomen and black stripes on the thorax. There is a black horseshoe mark on the thorax side between the wing base and the haltere. This species is found in rough grassland from April until July. There are similar-looking species, but N. appendiculata is without doubt the commonest 'tiger' during the months of April and May with numbers peaking in May. Adults feed on Cow Parsley and other umbellifers. Larvae feed on grass roots.

Limonid Cranefly Limonia phragmitidis has a grey head, orange thorax and orange abdomen. The wings have three black spots near to the front edge. Limonids normally hold the wings along the back of the body when at rest. They are usually found in shaded locations from April to June.

Orange-marked Cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata  belongs to a small family of phantom craneflies called the Ptychopteridae. They have long or thready antennae and are superficially similar in appearance to Tipuloid families. This species is often seen on vegetation at the edge of Hainault Lake and the forest ponds.