Common scorpionfly
The common scorpionfly is a black and yellow insect with spotty wings and a long, beak-like face. The male curls up the red tip of its tail just like a scorpion. But do not worry, there is no stinger in it at all.
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Fun facts
The male's curly tail end is used to hold on to the female, not to sting.
A male brings the female a present: a dead insect or a drop of his spit to eat.
Before the present, the two do a slow wing dance and shake their tails very fast.
Its baby looks like a little caterpillar and lives in the soil.
Even though it has good wings, it rarely flies far. It likes to crawl around on plants in shady, damp places.
Most asked questions about Common scorpionfly
?Can a scorpionfly sting?
No. It has no stinger, the scorpion tail is just for show and for holding a mate.
?What does a scorpionfly eat?
Mostly dead insects, sometimes taken from spider webs, plus plant sap.
?When can you see scorpionflies?
Adults are out from May to September.
Myth buster
Myth: The scorpionfly can sting like a scorpion.
Truth: No. The curled tail only looks like a stinger. It is a clasper the male uses to hold the female.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Panorpa communis
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Panorpidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mecoptera > Panorpidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Panorpa communis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Richard Bartz , Munich aka Makro Freak image:MFB.jpg. CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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