Common snipe fly
Rhagio mystaceus
The common snipe fly is a slim, dark fly with long legs. It has three dark stripes on its back and yellowish rings on its tail end. Its wings have dark tips.
Lives in
Middle and eastern North America, east of the Great Plains
Length
6 to 9 mm (0.24 to 0.35 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its larvae live in the ground and hunt other small creatures.
How big is it?
How long is it?
💅small enough to sit on your fingernail🍚as long as 1.5 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 44 seconds⚡moves 260 times its own body length every second
How big is Common snipe 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)
Common snipe fly about 8.5 km/h (5.3 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
The males are a little bigger than the females, growing to 7 to 9 millimetres.
2
The middle stripe on its back often has a very thin pale line down the centre.
3
It is also called the down-looker fly.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common snipe fly
?Does the common snipe fly bite?
No. It is harmless to people.
?Where does the common snipe fly live?
In middle and eastern North America, east of the Great Plains.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Rhagio mystaceus
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Rhagionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Rhagionidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Down-looker fly, Downlooker snipefly
Where the facts come from
- Rhagio mystaceus (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 Bruce Marlin. CC BY-SA 2.5, 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Housefly
New World screwworm fly
Lovebug
Tsetse fly
Common fruit fly
Asian tiger mosquito
Sharp-angled peacock moth
Elm borer
Pointed-keeled rhyzobius
Eastern pine elfin
Banded treebrown
Redwood sideband