Dune robber fly
Philonicus albiceps
The dune robber fly is a light, silvery grey fly with black legs. It sits on bare sand in coastal dunes and waits. When another insect flies by, it zooms out and grabs it in the air.
Lives in
Parts of Europe, mostly on sandy dunes by the sea
Length
1.8 cm (0.71 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It hunts insects, not people. Just watch it from close by without grabbing it.
What does it eat?
It catches other flies, bees and wasps, and even dragonflies and damselflies.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🍚as long as 3 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 32 seconds⚡moves 190 times its own body length every second
How big is Dune robber fly compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Dune robber fly about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It is brave enough to catch dragonflies and damselflies.
2
It sometimes even eats smaller robber flies.
3
It likes to sit on bare sand between tufts of marram grass.
4
Sometimes it lives on sandy places away from the sea too.
you asked
Most asked questions about Dune robber fly
?What does the dune robber fly eat?
Other insects, like flies, bees, wasps and even dragonflies.
?Where can you find the dune robber fly?
On sandy dunes by the sea in Europe, sitting on bare sand.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Philonicus albiceps
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Asilidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Asilidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Philonicus albiceps (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 Janet Graham. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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