Like most insects, Crane Flies look intimidating, and they are—if you’re a patch of turf! Well, their larvae (commonly called “leather jackets”) are intimidating little turf eaters…well…turf-root eaters. And voracious. If there’s grass around, there are probably crane flies not too far away. Crane flies are not well understood, but like my oh-so-beloved woodlice (also largely misunderstood) they bear a prodigious number of names. Outside of the USA, they’re actually known as “daddy long-legs” and here in the USA, I’ve heard them called a range of things: ‘mosquito hawks’, ‘mosquito eaters’, ‘‘skeeter-eaters’ and my all time favorite: ‘gollywhoppers.’ I think that’s a Southern-ism. It’s too colorful and fun a name to be one of those Nortnern names. For a while, I simply called them Russian Helicopters. The resemblance is, after all, uncanny and a wee bit spooky. I’ve always known these critters as mosquito hawks, and I never understood why they were called such things. Their mouth parts are scarcely developed. Like Mayflies, adults generally exist only to reproduce, though some—like this one—are nectar feeders. If you look closely, you can see his nectar-sucking proboscis, neatly slung beneath his neck. What drew me to this little guy (his abdomen is skinny, and that’s how you know males from females…females are usually full of eggs and have ovipositors on back that look…well…like ovipositors.) was his color. He’d come to rest on a fence and didn’t seem to care that I’d gotten as close as I did. He was more interested in…well…nothing. As a child, I’d see these in either my mother’s or grandmother’s garden. I’d largely ignore them as they never stayed around long enough to become interesting. They’d feed on nectar, then leave. There’s not much excitement in that, especially if they leave just as soon as you see them. So, needless to say, my affection for them is more abstract. But I love their fashion sense. Anyone able to fly around with so shiny (and non-aerodynamic) a thorax is pretty cool in my book. Also, I like the fact that their heads are so small; they remind me of the alien Mondoshawan race in The Fifth Element. Of course the Mondosawan have even bulkier bodies and even smaller-seeming heads—well, maybe it’s just their armor that’s bulky. (One has to wonder about aliens wearing armor designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier! What do they do during battle? Shoot you with “fabulous beams?” And yes, why do they look like overweight Crane Flies in woodlouse armor? If you’ve seen The Fifth Element you know what I’m talking about. And in terms of aliens that look like Crane flies in woodlouse armor…I like this Gautilier guy, he should design more alien costumes!) So anyway, here’s a close-up shot of a rather colorful crane fly, or as I’m fond of calling it: a charming little gollywhopper. *** As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you're all on the verge of a great weekend.