insect knowledge out there?

[vash]

i tried to find them on the web, but on luck. i have a ton of those flying bugs around the house. it looks like a big arse mosquito. about 1 inch from tip to tail. everytime i try to kill one, my girlfriend tells me it is a mosquito hawk, and it is a "friendly". it supposedly kills and eats mosquitos. WTF? i type mosquito hawk into yahoo, and all i get are scooter sites. they dont seem to bite, but i do love swatting flying things. are they friend or foe?

cliff
the charms of living in the country.

[Westy]

Up until a tear ago I also called them mosuito hawks. Then some knowitall on public TV said that is a misnomer (sp), and they don't eat mosquitos. Just an urban legend. Person was something like an entimologist. Yeah, like they know everything!!!!!

[Jamie79SC]

Probably a Crane Fly. I believe I've heard that the larval stage chews up your lawn, but I don't know that for a fact.

Now you can take this OT

[vash]

damn, i thought i was OT! JACK! fix this. sorry guys.

cliff

[masraum]

yep, they are crane flies. They don't eat mosquitoes (I used to think they did), but they are supposed to be bad for your lawn.

[juanbenae]

i learn something new here every day!! some bits more useful than others, but the over all knowledge of this group is amazing...

[vash]

yes, my cat catches them all the time. and i dont see the "tools" required to kill and eat mosquitos. thanks, crane flies. cant wait until my girlfriend gets home so she can witness the carnage.

friggen bugs. you gotta love those spiders.

[svandamme]

how do they react to a can of brake cleaner?

[masraum]

Or some quick start ether in an aerosol can with an open flame held out front.

[juanbenae]

while bugs are the topic, i have had these little fly like things in my shower for a couple months now. for you californians that remember the fruit fly scare of the 80's (remember the helicopters spraying at night?) they look like them. they appear to be coming from the drain. i have poured bleach down there and let it sit in the p-trap for a half a day and they re appeared a couple weeks later. they dont eat much it would seem, all my 2000 (lever2000 soap reference) parts are still there and accounted for. they have seen me naked, and lived through a BM or 6, so maybe they are like a cockroach in that they will live through a nuke attack?

[911ctS]

Hmmm.... interesting stuff. I once put one of those mosquito hawks in a big jar w/ about 4 mosquitos that I collected and the big bastard killed every one of them. Maybe he felt confined and crowded so he decided to make a slaughter house of it.

Maybe I should try it again and film it this time.