Crane fly larva. The crane fly (Tipula sp.), also known as the 'daddy-long-legs', is a fly with long slender, fragile legs. The larva, which is called

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Crane fly larva. The crane fly (Tipula sp.), also known as the 'daddy-long-legs', is a fly with long slender, fragile legs. The larva, which is called a leatherjacket, lives in soil or water and grows to lengths of 4 centimetres. It has powerful jaws (left) to bite through the plant roots on which it feeds. The larva is born from an egg in the autumn and feeds in autumn and spring. It is inactive in the winter, remaining buried in the soil. It then pupates in late spring just below the surface, and an adult (the fly) emerges. The flies live only for a few days in order to mate and lay eggs.

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Photo credit: © GEOFF KIDD/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: animal, bacteriophage, bacteriophages, biological, biology, brown, crane, daddy-long-legs, entomological, entomology, fauna, fly, ground, grub, insect, invertebrate, invertebrates, larva, leatherjacket, microbiology, nature, reproduction, reproductive, single, soil, t4, tipula, virology, virus, viruses, wildlife, young, zoological, zoology