Meadow scorpionfly
The meadow scorpionfly is an insect with a long beak-like face. It likes warm, sunny places at the edges of bushes. It is a clever thief: it steals dead insects out of spider webs without getting stuck.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It can take food from a spider web and still avoid getting caught.
As it gets older, its eyesight gets worse.
Older scorpionflies are weaker flyers, because their flight muscles wear out.
Females are better at fighting off germs than males.
Most asked questions about Meadow scorpionfly
?Can a scorpionfly sting?
No. Its scorpion-like tail is harmless.
?What does the meadow scorpionfly eat?
Dead insects and other small creatures, often taken from spider webs.
Myth buster
Myth: Scorpionflies can sting like a scorpion.
Truth: No. The male's scorpion-like tail end is harmless and has no sting.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Panorpa vulgaris
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Panorpidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mecoptera > Panorpidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Panorpa vulgaris (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 ะกะตัะณะตะน ะะตะบะปัะดะพะฒ. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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