NOTES ON AN UNUSUAL HABITAT FOR OVERWINTERING EUROPEAN CRANE FLY LARVAE (DIPTERA: TIPULIDAE) IN NEWFOUNDLAND

On 2 April 1986, while removing an accumulation of mosses from the roof of a covered picnic table near a home on Brookfield Road, St. John's (Fig. 1), several hundred larvae (leatherjackets) of the European crane fly, Tipula paludosa Meigen, were found overwintering in the moss between the slot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Canadian Entomologist
Main Author: Morris, Ray F.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1986
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/ent1181205-11
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00040943
Description
Summary:On 2 April 1986, while removing an accumulation of mosses from the roof of a covered picnic table near a home on Brookfield Road, St. John's (Fig. 1), several hundred larvae (leatherjackets) of the European crane fly, Tipula paludosa Meigen, were found overwintering in the moss between the slots of the asphalt shingles (Fig. 2). During the period 1971–1985 a heavy growth of mosses had become established in the slots between the shingles. Sufficient organic matter, together with particles of soil and sand, had accumulated in these slots to support the mosses, which gradually spread outward to the flat surfaces of the shingles (Fig. 1).