8 Facts You Need to Know About Mosquito Eaters

If you have seen insects that look like mosquitoes (only with a longer body and legs) in your garden or perhaps in your home, you probably thought they’re the more dangerous kinds of mosquitoes. They’re not actually mosquitoes – they’re called mosquito eaters.

Insects that eat mosquitoes? Then you better keep them around, right?

Hold up on that thought because everybody knows that insect names can be very deceiving and the case with mosquito eaters is another deception presented to you by the entomology world. So, what are mosquito eaters exactly and do they even really mosquitoes?

Here are eight facts about these insects you need to know:

1. They are also often called “daddy long legs” but they’re not the common cellar spiders – they are crane flies.
2. Mosquito eaters do not eat mosquitoes. They do, however, eat mosquito larvae during their larval stage, but only occasionally. Their main source of sustenance is flower nectar.
3. While they’re bigger than mosquitoes, they are physically incapable of killing the bloodsuckers.
4. They don’t bite humans but they are annoying to have around because of the sound created by their wings.
5. There are two types of crane flies typically found in homes and gardens. There’s the European crane fly and the common crane fly. They look very similar to each other and the only distinct difference between them is their number of life cycles per year.
6. These long-legged flies multiply really quickly and when the weather’s warm, you’ll often find them buzzing around your outdoor lighting fixtures.
7. They are considered pests because they are harmful to plants. They often live in the very top layers of soil and therefore eat the roots and even the leaves of the plants that are still sprouting from the soil – meaning with them around, your turf and plants may not achieve their full growth potential.
8. If you have a healthy garden and it attracts other garden insects, birds and small wildlife (such as raccoons and skunks), you can expect those to keep mosquito eaters’ population under control.

If you’re dealing with more of these flies than you can take, the best way to manage the situation is to call in your trusted Modesto pest control company. Getting rid of off these garden pests can be tricky especially if you wish to use a pesticide for quick results. You don’t want to kill helpful garden insects when you control mosquito eaters, so turn to the pros who can use the right methods and products for the job.