My animal is Thaumalea testacea. Some people might know it as a crane fly or a mosquito eater. Thaumalea testacea’s average heights are 2mm long. They have six legs and two wings. They are usually brown. The wings are kind of see-through, and it has abdomen. The location of crane flies is mostly found in Europe. The purpose of this essay is to tell you a little bit about crane flies.

Crane flies are big, small, have different coloration of the species, and many characteristics. Crane flies grow up to about 2 1/2 inches long. The coloration of the species of my animal is brown.  Some adaption’s crane flies have is that they like spring and summer and mosquitos. Some characteristics my animal has is that the wings are a little bit see-through. They have very long legs too. All four legs would fit your five fingers (with the body in between of course).

Where crane flies are found, the population change and the conversation status are in these next few sentences. Crane flies may be found in Europe although in the summer time they go to different places like the U.S. Crane flies population is increasing in Buffalo NY. The conservation status of crane flies is that they live just long enough to mate which is only a few days. That was the habitat, population, and the conservation.

Now lets talk about whet crane flies need to eat, what they do eat and there predators.  Crane flies are useful for eating mosquitos, they are not harmful to humans and they don’t bite. Crane flies normally don’t eat but when they do they feed on plant nectar. They eat other insects too. Predators of the crane flies are about all other animals because they are very delicate and the legs may just snap right off. Those facts were about the diet, feeding habits, and predators.

My animal is important because we all get mosquito bites and they eat mosquitos so we don’t have to worry about mosquito’s biting us. I asked a few people about what was the first thing they noticed when they looked at a crane fly. Most said they have very long legs, they have wings and their abdomen is long. That is kind of the first thing I noticed too. The first time I got my animal, I thought uuughh mosquito eaters are LAME! But then I started realizing how fascinating they are and I learned a lot about them.

Author: Shai J.
Published: 02/2013

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Photo Credit: http://www.diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=15174&pid=69638