Don’t worry about the large bugs that look like mosquitoes; they’re just crane flies

PITTSBURGH — They won’t bite you, but those bugs that look like large mosquitoes are out in full force this fall. They’re called crane flies and they’re looking to mate for two weeks.

According to our partners at TribLive.com, the bugs have only two weeks to live as adults, which means they’re desperate to mate.

Large numbers of crane flies are currently being observed in western Pennsylvania, according to Benjamin McGraw with Penn State University. He said he’s seen large swarms in places like golf course, but he attributes the large numbers to wet summers the last few years.

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“They fly into your face when you ride in the golf cart,” McGraw said.

The bugs pose a significant source of food for birds, frogs, spiders and other insects, according to Chen Young, who used to work in Invertebrate Zoology for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. There are more than 1,500 species of crane flies in North America.

Experts say the crane fly has a long body, long legs and flies slow, whereas a mosquito is small, quick and wants to land on you to get your blood.

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