What the heck are these things???

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

We get lots of huge flying bugs around our front door which love to fly inside when we open the door. They look like huge mosquitoes and have long legs. They seem harmless and seem to be attracted to light. Anyone know what they are? (We live in Irving.) Thanks for any insight anyone can give us!

[veteran_for_peace]

1. Crane Fly

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

3. I think you are exactly right!

Thank you so much! We must have killed 20 of these things lately! We've never seen them before.

[babylonsister]

9. Don't kill them! They're harmless and kill

mosquitoes, which are worse.

[Skittles]

2. don't they call them "mosquito catchers" or something like that?

OOH have their legs brush across your neck - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Enquiringkitty]

6. In Mississippi they call them Mosquito Hawks. Sounds like them.

They'll get right up in your face and flap their wings and won't go away....eeeeuuuwwwww!

[KC]

4. We

always called them mosquito hawks. I think they actually
kill mosquitos, but I might be wrong.

KC

[merci_me]

5. Our kids always called them

wimpy bugs, because if you try to take a swat at them, the breeze from your hand is enough to cause them to go floating to the floor or wherever. They seem to lose the ability to fly in the wake of the slightest breeze and if they hit the wall or floor when that happens, it's curtains for them.

Mary

[PDittie]

7. Crane flies and mosquito hawks are two different bugs

Crane fies have long legs and poor wings, as others have attested. Pretty much harmless to you and to other bugs. They hang out around your porch light at night, and if they get in the house it's usually by falling off your screen door when you open it and bumping along the floor. Sounds like what you are describing.

Mosquito hawks, OTOH, are quite excellent fliers. They resemble your common fly eye-wise but they're much larger, have the fuselage-shaped body and those turbo-charged wings. And as their name implies, they are merciless (and valuable) predators; they consume several times their weight in mosquitoes nightly. They DON'T hang around porch lights and doors, either. They rarely perch anywhere except on a tiny limb or leaf; they're mostly hovering or locomoting.

[rainbow4321]

8. They go away in a few weeks...

We had a bunch of them last year..had an exterminator come out for ants in the yard and while he was here we asked about those flying creatures. He said they are common around here and stick around for a few weeks..then they go away. They did eventually disappear.

[crispini]

10. Just wait...

until you meet the palmetto bugs. :scared::scared::scared::scared:

I HATE those things. Whenever they venture into my house, this is what happens:

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam! Thwack! (Shoe taking them out.)

(Hey, I know a great organic pesticide guy if you want one! Only kills the uglies, doesn't kill the good bugs.)

[Lisa0825]

11. I think they are May Flies.

My kitty loves to hunt them when they get inside!:-)

[jburton]

12. They are pretty short lived

They'll be gone in a few weeks.

I'm in east Dallas and they are all over the place.

My cat loves to catch them and pile them up (minus a few legs) in front of our door on the porch. His little "gift" to us.

[Catherine Vincent]

13. We got them here too.

Annoying little creatures!

[Frogtutor]

14. We've always called them Mayflies; our house is being

swarmed right now, too (we live in Fort Worth). They do go away before too long. There are other times of the year when we get swarmed by crickets, and some years we've had big, black beetles; and of course there are the June bugs every year. One year, during a particularly long summer drought, we had swarms of grasshoppers!

Why can't we be attacked by mobs of butterflies, or ladybugs?!

[Frogtutor]

15. Here you go:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/alienempire/replicators.html

Pretty cool info on Mayflies; they DO have a purpose after all!