They're not mosquito hawks, they're crane flies, and they're everywhere this winter.
You've probably gotten a few of the brown insects in the house already that look like a mosquito on steroids. A lot of moist weather has proved to be a perfect breeding ground for them around the metro this year.
LSU Ag Center Entomologist Dr. Dale Pollet says they're not threatening to people, but just like any other fly, they're kind of gross. "An alternate name for them is leather jackets. That's because when you look around your yard you'll see all these little brown things sticking up and," Pollet says, "That's the pupae cases that the flies are emerging out of."
The pupae is the phase in the birth cycle that comes after the eggs become maggots.
Some people mistake crane flies for mosquitoes, but they don't bite and they're actually they're eating the dead organic matter in your lawn.
Pollet says if they're really becoming too much of a nuisance, the best way to get rid of them is by regularly de-thatching your lawn.
Crane flies can assist in the break down of organic matter in the yard according to the LSU Ag Center, which they say speeds up the return of nutrients to the soil of our lawn.
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