Larvae I.D. please

Size is helpful.

rockpickerforever

Indeed. a full 2 inches.

Excellent and thanks Mel. That ID was a big big help. You nailed it.
The long larval stage is a big problem.
And in this case they are borers and next to impossible to treat with insecticide. As they bore below the water line and seal the hole for an airy underwater cavern.
Feeding away in complete cover as a borer does. Pesticide quickly diluted. I hate systemics, tried heavy Orthene applications and no go. Obnoxious poison that stuff.
Variegated Singapore cattails started getting them years ago an I was forced to abandon that crop. A great plant.
Now they have moved to a medium sized native cattail.
I will search for a treatment that fancys them, doubt it exists as this is one leathery larvae.

One of the few insects that can be placed on a fire ant mound and survive. By digging rapidly into the mound and shearing the ants off.
Guessing they will finally get him but they got a fight on their hands.

Would make superb fish bait; would take a piranha to tear him off the hook.

Yes, Giant Craneflies abound here. They also get in Peltandra Virginica, an aquatic arum.



"The crane fly resembles a mosquito.
The crane fly goes through a metamorphosis or changes body types during its lifecycle that lasts approximately one year. From the time the female lays her eggs until they reach adulthood, the fly changes from a larva to a pupa, then to an adult. Each cycle serves a specific purpose for growth and development of the crane fly.

Description
According to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, more than 1,500 species of crane flies have been identified in North America. Each type has unique characteristics. However, the adult mosquito-like fly generally has an elongated body up to 3 inches long, a pair of slender wings that spread up to 3 inches wide, and six long, skinny legs. Unlike the mosquito, the crane fly is harmless and does not bite.

Eggs and Larvae
The female crane fly generally lays her eggs in water, such as lakes or creeks, or in moist soil or on lawns during the spring. She may lay hundreds of eggs at a time, which generally hatch within 6 to 14 days. The first stage after hatching underwater or underground is the larval stage. The larva of the crane fly is shaped like a worm with both ends tapered. It has a tough outer skin covered with tiny hairs. During this larval stage the gray, brown- or cream-colored fly larvae feed off of leaves, roots and debris in the soil or water.

Pupae
The pupae form after the larvae have eaten for several months and molted, or lost and replaced their skin, four times. During this stage, the crane fly rests between one week and several months while under protective cover. Generally, during the spring, the pupae emerge as adult crane flies.

Adult
The main goal of the adult crane fly in the spring is mating. During the adult stage, the crane fly does not eat. For the short 10- to 15-day period, the adults mate on plants or in the air near the water. Afterwards, the female deposits her eggs. When mating and egg distribution is complete, female dies. The male only lives up to 15 days as well."

Around here, we call crane flies GAL NIPPERS. don't ask me why. Never been bitten.

Seen that description on Wiki Pat:

Numerous other common names have been applied to the crane fly. Many of the names are more or less regional in the U.S., including mosquito hawk, mosquito eater, gallinipper, and gollywhopper.[19] They are also known as daddy-long-legs around the world,[3] not to be confused with daddy-long-legs that refers to arachnids of the order Opiliones or the family Pholcidae. The larvae of crane flies are known commonly as leatherjackets.[3]

Gollywhoppers ?? lol

Hard to imagine eating that one Pat.

JEAN FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!

Yeah, horsefly was my first guess too, but after having gone through a whole bunch of pics of Tipulid ( leatherjacket) stages and seeing how much diversity there is ( even in different larval stages) I was tending to lean toward Tipulidae because, without a closeup of the feeding end extended and under my dissecting scope, I came to the conclusion that there were pretty much dead ringers picturewise in both groups. Many tipulids have that same exact morphology, including the rings and bumps, when in the leatherjacket stage. Seems to come down to the fine details of mouth parts and to me, fly larvae are always a tough call....Mel