I'm so glad that somebody finally explained what these little (or big) stinkers actually are.

We've had a few of these fly into our house in the last month and yes, we're guilty as charged - we totally thought that they were giant, life-sucking mosquitoes that had arrived to take our souls to tthe underworld.

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Well, they're not. In fact, they're the exact opposite.

Facebook user Judy Thompson Shimer was thinking the same thing when she posted this:

I case you may be unaware - this is NOT a giant mosquito. This is a Crane fly - If you see a lot of these guys around, there is a reason. We are having a population explosion due to all the rain we had this year. They eat mosquito larva and do no harm. They are not gigantic mosquitoes that have come to suck the soul out of you.

If you're super-duper into entomology, you can head on over here for a more scientific description of the Crane Fly. Personally, all I need to know is that they actually EAT mosquitoes, which is a GREAT character trait. And they do NOT BITE.

It's not uncommon to see an explosion of crane flies after a wet winter, which is exactly what we had in Michigan. They're more common in the south, of course, where winter is almost non-existent. Heavy rains are a breeding ground for crane fly larva, and that's why we're seeing more of them in Michigan this year.

There you go, folks. Knowledge is power.

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