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Sticker of Marsh snipe fly
Bug card No. 2777 of 4,939

Marsh snipe fly

Rhagio tringarius
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsFlies and mosquitoesGardens and meadows6 legs

The marsh snipe fly is a slim fly with long, thin yellow orange legs. Its tummy is yellow orange with black triangles on top. It likes to sit still on leaves in wet meadows and woods.

Lives in
Most of Europe, and parts of northeastern and western North America, in wet meadows, hedges and woods
Length
0.8 to 1.4 cm (0.31 to 0.55 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people.
What does it eat?
Its larvae live in the soil and hunt small beetles and earthworms.
For real!Photo of Marsh snipe fly
Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Marsh snipe fly about 1.4 cm long (0.55 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 34 secondsmoves 220 times its own body length every second

How big is Marsh snipe fly compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its babies live on the ground among fallen leaves and hunt there.

2

Its wings are clear, without the dark spot most of its cousins have.

3

The grown-up flies can be seen from May to September, resting on leaves.

you asked

Most asked questions about Marsh snipe fly

?Is the marsh snipe fly dangerous?

No. It is harmless to people.

?What does the marsh snipe fly eat?

Its larvae hunt small beetles and earthworms in the soil.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Rhagio tringarius
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Rhagionidae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Rhagionidae
Lives on
Europe, North America
Also known as
Marsh snipefly

Where the facts come from

  1. Rhagio tringarius (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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