Common awl robber fly
The common awl robber fly is a small grey and black hunter. It sits very still on a tree trunk and waits. When another insect flies past, it zooms out and grabs it with its long, bristly legs.
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Fun facts
It often catches insects that are bigger than itself.
It loves old woods, especially oak woods.
You can see it from May to October, but most of all in June and July.
Its larvae grow up underground, hunting other insect larvae in the soil.
It is very hard to tell apart from its close cousins, even for experts.
Most asked questions about Common awl robber fly
?What does a robber fly eat?
Other flying insects, which it grabs in the air with its legs.
?Is the common awl robber fly dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people if left alone, but it might nip if you catch it.
?How big is the common awl robber fly?
It is about 1 to 1.7 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Neoitamus cyanurus
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Asilidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Asilidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Neoitamus cyanurus (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 No machine-readable author provided. Jensbn~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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