Common Yellow Crane Fly - Leptotarsus (Macromastix) tortilis
Family Tipulidae
This page contains pictures and information about Common Yellow Crane Flies that we found
in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm
- The Common Yellow Crane Fly is bright pale yellowish-orange in colour with black stripe along the
abdomen, segments 7 and 8 are dark brown. On thorax there are the very
light-brownish stripes. On wings cells C and Sc are rich brownish yellow.
- We usually found them in group resting on leaves or grasses.
- This Crane Fly are common in Brisbane bushlands. We usually found them on open brassy area. Most of them can be found hanging on medium high grasses, males, females and mating pairs. When disturbed, they flied to a meter away and rest again.
- For this species, both males and females have short antennae.
- We saw a lot of this fly flying on grasses in late summer. This crane fly is medium in size.
- This individual has Cell M1 does not have petiole.
- We also found them in our backyard on wall of our house.
- Reference:
- 1. The Crane Flies (Diptera: Tipulidae) of Pennsylvania - Chen W. Young, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, 2008
- 2. Insects of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p741.
- 3. The Tipulidae (Diptera) of Australia. X. The genus Leptotarsus Guérin; the subgenus Macromastix Osten-Sacken* - 1974, NV Dobrotworsky, Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 22(25) 31 - 62.
