Species Tipula simplex - Range Crane Fly

Wing length of male 11-12 mm (1). The adult female is essentially wingless ("wing of female greatly reduced, subequal in length to the halteres(1)").

"It has a known California distribution from northern Santa Cruz County, north to Marin County, and east to Sacramento County. A second, discontinuous population is found in the Yokohl Valley of Tulare County (Alexander 1967). During the winter of 1977-78, a third discontinuous population was recorded in Tehama County, which was confirmed by the authors (Fig. I). Unconfirmed reports indicate that the range crane fly may also occur in Oregon, east of the Cascade Mountains (2)".

"In California, the suitable habitat appears to be the unirrigated pastures of the central valley of California, below the oak-woodland zone (2)".

"The adults of the range crane fly emerge in late winter or early spring, depending upon the winter temperature. Copulation occurs almost immediately, and may last for 24 hours. The eggs are laid within 3 days in the soil and immediately enter a dormant period (diapause). Diapause is broken by the onset of rain in September or October, but the embryos undergo a second dormancy period (quiescence), and finish development and hatch after the onset of the second series of rains (Hartman and Hynes 1977)(2)".

"Crane fly larvae feed on decaying matter in the soil, cowpads which are at least one season old, and roots of range forage plants. Infrequently (about once every 6 years in Tulare County), the larvae reach such high concentrations that they destroy all forage, denude hills, and cause adverse effects on the watershed (Fig. 2) (2)".

See also the Handbook of Forage and Rangeland Insects, which presumably has much more current information:

https://www.entsoc.org/Pubs/Books/Handbooks/forage.