Leptotarsus (Macromastix) costalis (Common Brown Crane Fly)
identification notes from Dobrotworsky, N.V. 1974 The Tipulidae of Australia X. The genus Leptotarsus. Aust.J.Zool. Suppl. Ser. 25: 31-62
The male can easily be recognized by the very long, almost filiform antennae and by the long, pale, dense hairs on the head and thorax; rostrum long with prominent nasus and long setae on its apex; antennal scape large, swollen in middle, tawny; pedicel very small; flagellar segments black; basal segment of palp brown, black apically; thorax tawny; clothed with long, pale, fine, erect hairs; prescutum with 4, sometimes indistinct, brown stripes; scutal lobes, scutellum and postnotal mediotergite of ground colour; former often with brown patch anteriolaterally; legs of ground colour; femora and tibiae dark brown or blackish at apex; tarsi usually dark brown or blackish; the wing membrane is hyaline, with light greyish tint and the anterior border and the stigma brown; cell M1 petiolate; wing length 18-21mm; haltere of ground colour with brown knob; basal segments of abdomen tawny, terminal segments black or dark brown.
The female has short antennae and is very similar to L. (M.) macquartianus which, however, is confined to Tasmania.
