This spring, we noticed large sections of our lawn decimated (example picture of damage attached) with little holes in the ground (example picture attached). We dug up a section of soil where one of these holes was located and found this decently large larvae in the soil (picture attached). It’s roughly 1 inch long, has no legs, a dark head/face, and short, fleshy appendages on the back end opposite the head. It also squirted some black goo when I was holding it, we think it could be poop or some sort of defense mechanism (or possibly both)

We’ve never had lawn damage before this spring, and the only major change last fall was some dead apples from our apple tree on the ground that we think could’ve served as an attractant (this is just a guess though). Through our research, we guessed it could be a European crane fly (ECF) larvae, and we did notice a lot of adult crane flies last fall while mowing the lawn (our lawn also tends to be decently wet sometimes, usually in the spring but some wetter falls the last couple years, and this wetness corresponds to the damage areas, which also seems to fit the ECF profile). We have three major questions: what is this larvae, is it likely the culprit for our lawn damage, and if so, what management approach would you suggest to hopefully prevent this damage in the future (eg lawn care changes, insecticide applications, etc)?