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 P. communis male
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Panorpa communis or common scorpionfly1 is a species of scorpionfly native to Western Europe.
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Description
The common scorpionfly has a black and yellow body, with a reddish head and tail. In the male has a pair of claspers at the end of its tail (for holding the female during mating), giving it a scorpion-like appearance, although there is no stinger. It has a wingspan of about 35mm. The head is drawn into a prominent, downward pointing beak, with the mouthparts at the tip. The eyes are large. The wings are mostly clear, but have many dark spots or patches.
Habits
The larva resembles a caterpillar and grows up to 20mm long. it has three pairs of thoracic legs and eight pairs of prolegs. The adult is seen between May and September, and can be usually found in hedgerows and patches of nettle. They eat dead insects (although they sometimes eat live aphids), sometimes stealing them from spider webs.2 the adults rarely fly, instead preferring to crawl over their leafy habitat in search of their food.
Although fully winged, the adults rarely fly very far and spend much of their time crawling on vegetation in damp, shaded places near water and along hedgerows. Eggs are laid in soil annually and the larvae both scavenge and pupate there.
External links
References
- ^ in Kendall Bioresearch
- ^ "food" in uksafari.com
Gallery
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 Male |
 Male on flower |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 21 August 2008, at 18:36.
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