Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Portland Oregon. We have tons of crane flies that everyone here calls mosquito eaters. Anyway, I was just bored and looking them up real quick and saw that every description, even of the giant crane flies, puts their max size at an inch or two. Every year here, we get what look just like crane flies that get well over six inches in diameter. They are bigger than a lot of the birds we have. In my old house we had a white garage, and every year like clockwork a gigantic crane fly or whatever it was, would be stuck to one of the panes. Last summer I had my back door open and one flew in that had to be well over 8 inches including wingspan. It's body was as thick as my index finger. Does anyone know what they are, are they they same species or what? Sorry for the long post and any help would be greatly apppreciated. I keep snakes only but have always wondered what these guys were. Thanks again, Eric-

It may be the species of giant cranefly known as Holorusia hespera.

Still they only get a couple of inches, the ones I see here on occassion literally get as big as a dinner plate. Their body is twice the diameter as a pencil. Anyway, thanks for your response.

Sorry I couldn't help you, Hefte. Maybe you can ID it on www.bugguide.net. If that doesn't work, trap a specimen & have someone at the local university's entomology department ID it.
Goodluck. If U find the name, please post it.