Daddy Long Legs

I received a video call the other day. People at home were startled about what they saw. Hubby took a photo of it and I was even shocked and worried to see this big mosquito like creature.

My husband said it looks very similar to an aedes aegypti - the mosquito that carries dengue virus (please correct me if I'm wrong). He was so worried that it might harm the kids as it went inside our room. He didn't know where it came from. Even I was terrified to see this big kind of mosquito. It's size is as big and wide as my hands.

I told him to spray the room with insecticide but guess what he did.. he went into the laptop and searched for it. My husband has a big heart for little creatures and killing them is not his first choice.

He searched for: Long Legged Mosquito Like Creature

Then he told me to search for it myself. This appeared on my screen. The name of this creature is crane fly based on how we described it and we were satisfied since it showed exactly the same features.

Crane flies are said to be harmless because they don't bite. In fact according to The Ateneo Wild (facebook page) they are beneficial insects because they feed on decomposing organic matter.

Wikepedia says:

Crane fly is a kind of fly that belongs to the Tipulidae family. These do not bite people or animals but instead occasionally eat nectar.

I like how it's called "daddy-long-legs", I find it cute and interesting.

There are about 15,000 different species and 525 genera of crane flies which means that they are the largest group of flies.

Few interesting facts about crane flies:

I was amazed that even my eldest son shared what he learned about this creature. They were very scared the first time they saw it but when they read about it, he was interested and in the evening, when I arrived home, he reported to me what happened and what he learned.

He told me: "Ma, I pity those crane flies because they only live for only 15 days"

"They don't bite us! They eat nectar!"

I was happy in silent knowing that this kid is learning from different things he is seeing while staying at home.

So, going back to it's interesting facts, adult crane flies lives to mate and lay eggs for 10 to 15 days and in some species, the adult does not eat.

Most of their lives are spent as larva and are called leatherjackets. They move to eat roots and some of them are aquatic.

Being known to eat roots which are mostly of those grass in the lawns, they are considered pest of lawn grass in some places since they can cause extensive damage to grasses.

Crane flies can grow at 60 mm (2.36 inches) and some can be as large as 100 mm (3.93 inches)

My husband said, they stay mostly indoors. At first I thought maybe because of the plants displayed inside. Our house at the moment is full of plants. But upon reading further, they get easily attracted to lights and so, it made its way inside when my husband opened the window.

If you see something like this in your homes, give them the chance to live. They might have very few days left, anyway.