The two commonest craneflies - Tipula oleracea and T. paludosa - are dull-coloured insects but this female orange-sided comb-horn Ctenophora pectinicornis has an orange and black colour scheme that gives it a hint of menace. We found it in old deciduous woodland on the bank of the river Wear in Durham city. The larvae (leatherjackets) of the two commonest craneflies feed on grass roots in pastures but the larvae of this woodland species feed on decaying fallen timber.
As is so often the case, this specimen has lost a limb. Easily shed limbs might well be a last resort escape strategy, from the beak of a bird or the web of a spider.
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