Spotted Cranefly

Nephrotoma appendiculata

"Nephrotoma appendiculata", the spotted crane fly, is a species of crane fly.
Spotted crane fly - Nephrotoma appendiculata  Animal,Animalia,Arthropoda,Axios River Delta Complex,Diptera,Europe,Geotagged,Greece,Insect,Insecta,Nature,Nephrotoma appendiculata,Ramsar wetland,Spotted crane fly,Spring,Tipulidae,Wildlife

Appearance

"Nephrotoma appendiculata" has a wingspan of about 50 mm, and a body length of 13–15 mm. The body is yellow with a few short, black stripes on the thorax, a black horseshoe mark on the side and a broad dark stripe on each section of the abdomen. The wings have a thin, yellow line near the leading edge. The wing stigma is usually pale, but sometimes it is dark.

This species is rather similar to "Nephrotoma flavescens".
Spotted crane fly Found this in the garden yesterday, prettiest crane fly I have ever seen! Crane Flies,Geotagged,Isle of Wight,Nephrotoma appendiculata,Spotted Crane Fly,United Kingdom,insects

Naming

Subspecies include:
⤷ "Nephrotoma appendiculata appendiculata"
⤷ "Nephrotoma appendiculata pertenua" Oosterbroek, 1978
Cranefly love A position to try if you find your partner truly ugly? Geotagged,Greece,Nephrotoma appendiculata,Summer

Distribution

This species is present in most of Europe, in North Africa and in the Near East.
Spotted crane fly, side view  Geotagged,Nephrotoma appendiculata,Spotted crane fly,United Kingdom,crane flies,insects,isle of wight

Behavior

Adults can be seen from April to August. The larvae, known as "leatherjackets", feed on the roots of grasses, while the adults feed on umbellifers such as cow parsley.
Crane Fly, Nephrotoma sp  Fall,Geotagged,Indonesia,Nephrotoma appendiculata

Habitat

These crane flies inhabit woodland edges, gardens, fields, rough grassland. and farmland.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderDiptera
FamilyTipulidae
GenusNephrotoma
SpeciesN. appendiculata