MATURE KNOWLEDGE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21706, 13 February 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

MATURE KNOWLEDGE

DADDY-LONGLEGS (A.V.C.)

Judith Hanna, Fendalton, has sent a specimen of a daddy-longlegs or crane-fly. These lanky Insects belong to the family Tipulidae of the order Diptera. The small head is narrow and is prolonged forward, thus giving it a snouted appearance. Some species have a long proboscis. The antennae are of moderate length and the eyes compound; there are no simple eyes or ocelli. The thorax is stout. There are, usually, twp well-developed, transparent wings and two conspicuous halteres or balancers. But a few wingless species occur, and in others the females have only vestigial wings. The exceedingly long legs, six in number, are very slender and fragile: the relative length of leg compared* with the size ox the body varies greatly in different species; in the species figured the legs are comparatively short. The abdomen is long and usually slender, but in

a few species it ,is broad. The female has an ovipositor, the end of her abdomen being pointed, whereas that of the male is blunt, Colourings are usually sober, but some species are brightly hued and are rather pretty. The wings, otherwise colourless, are commonly mottled and marbled with brown. Body colourings are most frequently some shade of brown or grey. But there are several very pretty species quite common in New Zealandseveral pale green, one bright orange and black. The hard seed-like eggs, oval and commonly black in colour, are usually laid on the ground and are generally deposited while the female Is flying, she making short flights close to the ground lor the purpose. The larva is an elongate, cylindrical creature, rather plumpisb. The head is deeply embedded in the fore part of the thorax. The tail end has fleshy processes which can be retracted; in, aquatic species these processes are weft fringed with hairs and protrusible blood-gifts are present; in land-inhabiting species the,hair fringes and gills are usually greatly reduced. Spiracles or breaming openings are situated at

Fig. A—An adult; B— A larva; C—A pupa

only fore and hind ends of body, or in some species at only the hind end. In colour the larvae are usually brownish or ashy grey. The larval habits are very diverse. Many species feed upon roots of grasses and other plants. Some species feed upon foliage of grasses or various other flowering plants; some feed upon mosses, others upon fungi. Other species feed on decomposing vegetable material, some living in decaying logs. Yet others are aquatic, some eating decaying vegetable matter in the water, some being carnivorous and feeding upon certain aquatic worms. Some of the larvae which feed openly upon the foliage of plants bear filaments and leaf-like outgrowths which assist in concealment. And in one species the larva mines or tunnels in the leaves of the food-plant. The pupa,ip greatly elongated and Jo rather slender; in most cases the

bulk of it is abdomen. The thorax bears two conspicuous and distinctive respiratory or breathing horns; these horns may be either slender or plate-like. The wings and other limbs are enclosed within the main skin, as in the Lepldpptera. In ground-inhabiting species the abdominal segments of the pupa bear spiny processes which enable the creature to work its way to the surface as the time for the emergence of the adult approaches, Pupation most commonly occurs in the ground, but in some species the pupa is attached to the foodplant. 1

The family Tipulidae is exceptionally well represented in New Zeeland by about 50Q species, the crane-fly fauna of this country being one of the most abundant in the world. These insects arft especially plentiful in our hill and mountain grasslands, ' The largest native species expends nearly three inches across the wings. But there is a Chinese species which expands four inches. The larvae of certain root-eating European species are known as H leather-jackets," and readers may remember reading some time ago

of extensive damage done to the turf of Lord's cricket ground in England by these creatures. At the time some of the daily newspapers published very original but unfortunately erroneous explanations of the identity of “leather-jackets."

Vestigial—Surviving in a degenerate or very imperfect form. (The noun is “vestige.”) ■ ; • Ealteres—See “The Press Junior," November 28, 1035. Protrusibie—Capable of being protruded cr put forth. Fauna—The animal Inhabitants of a region. Lepldoptera—The butterfly and moth, order.