Crane flies
soil in late summer to fall, and females mate and lay 200-300 eggs. Larvae emerge within one week and then feed on roots and crowns of grasses during the [...] leatherjackets, live in the soil and feed on roots and shoots (which they pull into the ground of mainly grasses and cereal crops. The adults do not cause [...] grasslands, turf and cereal fields. Exit holes of the burrows of the larvae might also be visible. Secondary damage may come from birds and rodents feeding