Mosquito hawks, commonly misidentified and misunderstood across North America, are not the voracious mosquito predators many believe them to be. Instead, these insects, properly known as crane flies, are harmless and primarily exist to mate and lay eggs. Homeowners often mistake them for oversized mosquitoes or believe them to be a mosquito predator — catching and eating mosquitoes for food. These assumptions are entirely false. Crane flies don’t eat mosquitoes or much of anything in their adult form. It’s their larvae that do most of the feeding, often on decaying plant matter and occasionally on plant roots.
Unlike mosquitoes, which are aggressive bloodsuckers, crane flies are gentle and harmless. They don’t bite, sting, or transmit diseases, and adult crane flies often lack mouthparts. Understanding these distinctions helps in recognizing that crane flies, despite their intimidating size, pose no real threat and are generally an innocuous presence in our environment.
If you have them in your yard and call a pest management company to deal with them, you may hear some surprising news that you didn’t expect. In this article, I’ll give you a little more information on mosquito hawks, exactly what they are — and aren’t.
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What Is a Mosquito Hawk?
A mosquito hawk is a misnomer, a case of mistaken identity. Their real name is a crane fly in the order Diptera, family Tipulidae. Over the years, an urban legend of sorts has sprung up claiming that they eat mosquitoes.
Unfortunately for the beleaguered homeowner, nothing could be further from the truth. Crane flies — we’ll use the accurate name for them — don’t eat much of anything once they’re grown. It’s the larvae that do most of the eating.
What Other Names Are Mosquito Hawk Referred to As?
Common names for crane flies include mosquito hawks, mosquito eater, skeeter eater, gallinipper, golly whoppers, and daddy longlegs. They’re not spiders, of course, but because of their incredibly long legs, they are sometimes mistaken for one.
The scientific names for crane flies are different. Common crane flies are Tipula oleracea, and the European crane flies are Tipula paludosa. Crane fly larvae are normally called leatherjackets or leather jackets —either spelling is accurate.
Check out the video below to learn more about the Mosquito Hawk.
What Are Mosquito Hawks Commonly Mistaken For?
Crane flies are often mistaken for other insects, as reflected by some of the common names associated with them. Here is a brief look at some of them.
Crane flies are often confused with dragonflies because of their similar appearance. Because dragonflies do eat mosquitoes, the confusion has caused people to associate that behavior with crane flies, leading to them being called mosquito hawks or mosquito eaters.
Crane flies have long deciduous legs — meaning they come off easily — and are mostly brown or tan in color, while dragonflies sport bright, almost iridescent colors. Their body shapes are quite similar, but their colors are the main visual difference.
Dragonflies are aggressive hunters, but adult crane flies are limited to occasionally drinking nectar and often not even that. Some species of crane flies don’t eat anything at all once they mature. They only live for a few days, so they really don’t need to eat.
Another insect crane flies are mistaken for are daddy longlegs, daddy long-legs, or daddy-longlegs. Any spelling is acceptable. This has led to the misconception that crane flies are poisonous the way daddy longlegs are thought to be.
Both ideas are wrong.
It turns out that daddy longlegs aren’t spiders at all but belong to a different species called Opiliones. While they resemble spiders with their eight legs, they lack two things that make a spider a spider — venom and silk production. Daddy longlegs can’t produce either of those.
There is an urban legend that daddy longlegs are deadly poisonous, but their fangs are too weak to puncture our skin. Wrong again. They have mouthparts that are similar to crabs scorpions. They use them to grasp their prey while they eat them.
Daddy longlegs are not spiders, don’t produce poison, and don’t bite humans — ever. Consequently, every story that associates crane flies with them is wrong. A similar appearance doesn’t make them the same, or even close to the same.
Some people think crane flies are large mosquitoes. They see them flying around and think that mosquitoes are coming out larger and at an earlier time of year. Once again, the urban legends are 100% false.
Mosquitoes are aggressive hunters, looking for mammals to feed on, while crane flies are one of the gentlest insects in the world. Many species of adult crane flies don’t even have mouthparts because they don’t live long enough to get hungry.
Crane flies are several orders of magnitude larger than mosquitoes and their wings don’t have the scales that are seen (under a microscope) on mosquitoes. An adult female mosquito is a bloodsucker, but adult crane flies only exist to mate, lay eggs, and die.
What Do Mosquito Hawks Eat?
Mosquito hawks eat different things depending on the stage in their life cycle you’re talking about. The adult stages either sip a little nectar from the occasional flower or don’t eat anything at all during their short life span. In the larval stage, it’s a different story.
Crane fly larvae feed almost exclusively on plant matter, usually decaying plant matter, but they’ll also eat the roots of various plants, including turfgrass. This can result in large brown patches in your yard.
In the United States, the larvae generally emerge and begin feeding in wet or decomposing leaves or mulch in December and January. They’ll finish their metamorphosis and emerge as adult crane flies in February or March.
Are Mosquito Hawks Poisonous or Dangerous?
Crane flies are the most harmless flying insects you’ll ever encounter. They don’t bite or sting. They don’t transmit diseases. They don’t even destroy blankets or clothes like moths. In fact, they’re normally not even regarded as pests.
The only time a crane fly might be a problem is if one accidentally flew into your mouth when you were yawning or eating. Aside from that nasty-tasting possibility, you’ll never hear about a crane fly infestation.
The one and only time they’re a problem is if a large enough population of crane fly larvae eats the roots of the grass in your yard. Even that damage is only temporary. As soon as their season is over, the grass will begin growing out again.
Read More: How to Keep Flies Away
Bonus: How To Handle Your Mosquito Hawk Problem
For the most part, crane flies stay outside. This is because there’s nothing in your house to attract them. They want to mate and lay eggs, preferably in moist soil. Now and then one of them may accidentally fly in through an open door or window, but it wasn’t on purpose.
The best way to handle them is to keep your windows and doors closed. If you like to have cool breezes coming in, put some screens over the windows and get a tight-fitting screen door for your doorways.
Good lawn care is also recommended. During the warm weather, when you see a lot of crane flies, keep the yard mowed once a week. Rake up any dead leaves or excess mulch. If you have pine trees, rake up the fallen mats of pine needles, too.
If you’re concerned that crane fly larvae are damaging your lawn too much, you can use a combination of Bifenthrin and Martin’s I. G. Regulator.
Bifenthrin is a pesticide with good knockdown capabilities for flies and insects of all kinds. Martin’s I. G. Regulator is an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) that inhibits the growth of the insects affected by it. Both of these are concentrates that will yield several gallons of the finished product for spraying.
You’ll need to mix enough to spray your entire yard, probably between 10–20 gallons depending on the size of your yard. You’ll also need a backpack sprayer to do the spraying. They usually contain 3–4 gallons at a time, so you’ll have to go back and mix up a fresh batch of chemical several times until you’re done.
How To Get Rid of Mosquito Hawks (Most Popular Methods)
The most popular method to get rid of crane flies is to use a bug zapper. Crane flies are drawn to light at night. You’ll often see them at twilight, awkwardly bumping into things, including light bulbs. Go to a football game at night and you’re sure to see them and a zillion other bugs bumping into stadium lights.
Hanging a bug zapper with a light in it to attract them is a simple and effective method of getting rid of them. They’ll be drawn to it by the light then receive a sharp electrical zap to kill them dead.
An equally easy and simple method is a good, old-fashioned fly swatter. Crane flies are slow fliers for the most part, so you’ll be able to kill them quite easily with a fly swatter.
Best Trap to Kill Mosquito Hawks
Because crane flies are awkward fliers, they often bump into things at random. Hanging some fly ribbon strips around your patio or back yard will be an effective way of trapping and killing them.
Hang the strips at random around your back yard and you’ll be certain to catch many of them. You’ll catch some other flying insects as well.
Raid Fly Ribbon Strips
- Versatile Indoor & Outdoor Application
- Unscented
- Easy Installation
Raid fly ribbon strips are tried and true. They make it easy to get rid of flies, but also huge mosquito hawks.
Simply hang indoors or outdoors and watch these things attract and trap these pesky flies.
Be cautious, these ribbon strips are very sticky, you don’t want them to get caught on your clothes or skin.
Final Thoughts
Mosquito hawks, or crane flies, are generally harmless. They don’t bite or sting, and they don’t live long enough to be considered a pest by most pest control experts.
Understanding the life cycle and behavior of crane flies destroys the urban legends surrounding them. Despite their size, crane flies pose no direct threat to you or your property. Finding them indoors is accidental on their part. They are attracted to the light at night and are not trying to invade your living space. By recognizing these facts, homeowners can take preventive measures like maintaining screens on doors and windows to keep crane flies outside.
Crane flies play a minor ecological role and are generally beneficial in their natural habitat. Appreciate their harmless existence and tolerate their presence unless lawn damage from larvae needs targeted treatment. The diversity of insect life around us means that with understanding of the crane fly, homeowners can coexist without fear of any danger from them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of a mosquito hawk?
Mosquito hawks provide a food source for your soil, birds, and other insects.
What happens if a mosquito hawk bites you?
Mosquito hawks don’t have mouth parts for biting so they do not bite animals or humans.
What do mosquito hawks eat?
Mosquito hawks do not eat mosquitoes. They prefer nectar as well as dead and decaying matter.
