ugly little Crane Fly grub..

This little nasty was sticking out of an old downed tree - it was quite fat with a tiny, tiny head. I'm not sure if i was still alive or not.

comments (8)

Pudding4brains

Lion

Not sure about Nearctic species, but in Europe I would have a look at the larvae of Tipuloidea - "leatherjackets" I think you call them. Over here some of the more beautiful species (well, the adults that is ;o) in the subfamily Ctenophorinae (Tipulidae) develop in decaying wood:
6Ctenophorinae
I'm not saying this is one of them, but just as an example what such an "ugly grub" may produce :o) Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks for helping out, always a beautiful moment when experts connect, even by chance. Posted 8 years ago
2. morpheme
  
  Lion
  
  I'd say it looks like you are spot on - I don't think I can get to the species level with just the grub - most of the photos I found were not down that far, but it does look exactly like the other Tipulidea grubs on BugGuide. Posted 8 years ago
3. 1. Pudding4brains
    
    Lion
    
    In theory these can be identified quite far, usually to genus, often even to species level but you will need various high res views on the head and tail ends. At least for the European species I know there are good keys, but I would imagine the same for North America Posted 8 years ago
  2. 1. morpheme
      
      Lion
      
      I haven't even been able to find a good key for adults in and around this area... I've got one that I feel I should be able to ID but it's kind of plain and I've had little luck so far..
      I should probably search around BugGuide a bit more.
      
      I don't have any photos of the little worm's rear end - it was stuck fast into the log - I would have killed it if I'd tried to pull it out. I'm not sure if it even was alive though.. it didn't move when I touched it, but perhaps it was either too cold or it was in the process of forming a chrysalis? Posted 8 years ago
    2. 1. Pudding4brains
        
        Lion
        
        You did find the key for California?
        https://essig.berkeley.edu/documents/cis/cis08.pdf
        (I know this was up north, but at least it's west coast ;o)
        
        P.S. A tad older still, but for Washington:
        http://ccw.naturalis.nl/documents/Alexander,_1949m.pdf Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago
      2. morpheme
        
        Lion
        
        Don't think I've looked at this one yet - guides from California are often helpful - our environment is very similar to northern California, so we share a lot of species of plants and animals. If nothing else it really helps narrow things down from sites like BugGuide that covers, I think the US, Canada and maybe even some more southern latitudes. Posted 8 years ago

morpheme

Lion

Thanks! - I wouldn't have been sure where to even start with this guy - that will help me a lot. Posted 8 years ago

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By morpheme

Uploaded Apr 10, 2017. Captured Apr 9, 2017 09:57 in 3351 Green Cliffs Rd, Anacortes, WA 98221, USA.

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